A Cafteria Mystery
by StoryCrafter
Summary: Somebody has attacked Ginger and Courtney, and Miranda and Dodie and Macie have to find out who did it. And why.
1. A Mystery on their Hands

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

**Chapter 1: A Mystery on their Hands**

Written: 12 Dec 2004

Posted: 12 Dec 2004

Revised: 14 Dec 2004

It was mystery meat night in the cafeteria. A trio of girls had other plans.

Ginger Foutley entered into the peaceful lunchroom with her two friends, Macie Lightfoot and Dodie Bishop. For some reason that Ginger was sure was a good one they were bringing lunches made for them by Dodie. But as a result, they didn't need to wait in line like they usually did. She found what the reason she saw the menu by the door. Another reason to bring a lunch from home.

But before they could get to their table, they were stopped by Courtney Gripling, the most popular girl in school, and her best friend, Miranda Kilgilian. "Girls, I need a moment to speak alone with Ginger," Courtney said. Miranda was smirking at them.

"Er, about what, Courtney," Ginger asked.

"It's just something between us two," Courtney said. "Not even Miranda will be with us." Miranda looked positively shocked. Apparently not even her was expecting that.

Ginger paused. "But I thought that she was your right-hand woman, Courtney."

"Have you lost your mind, Courtney?" Miranda said.

"No, I haven't, Miranda." Courtney looked very cross at Miranda. "Now go off with Ginger's friends so that we can be alone."

"Fine. See you later then." Miranda grabbed Dodie and Macie's elbows and half-dragged them away. "Let's just the two lovebirds alone."

"We are not lovebirds," Courtney snapped. Apparently sarcasm is lost on some people. After their respective friends had left, Courtney pulled Ginger to the side of the lunchroom. "I don't think I entirely trust Miranda anymore. She's been acting a little… odd."

"Odd? In what way?"

"Well, for one thing, she has been spying on my house every night for the past two weeks."

"But doesn't she already do that?"

"No, of course not." Courtney placed her hands on her hips. "If you aren't to take this seriously, I'll just keep it to myself."

Ginger blushed. "Sorry," she said. And wondered where he had such a patently ridiculous idea.

"That's better." Courtney sounded slightly mollified. "Now I want you to do a favor for me."

"What is it, Courtney?"

"Keep an eye on Miranda. But don't let her know that you're keeping an eye on her."

"But, Courtney…"

Courtney cut her off by holding her hands in her own. "Please do this, Ginger." She looked into Ginger's eyes. "For me."

Ginger couldn't help herself. She nodded.

"Thank you, Ginger. You'll never regret this."

Five short minutes later and Ginger was already regretting it. No soon than she had sat down with her friends was when Miranda decided to disappear. Ginger would have got up and looked for her, but Courtney had admonished to not to let know, so she sat still. She sighed.

"What seems to be the matter, Ginger," Dodie asked with concern.

"It's Courtney. She's going through a few personal things."

"What sort of things?"

"Dodie, I just told it was personal."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"That's alright, Dode, you have a right to ask." _Yeah, right, _she thought to herself.

Dodie ate the rest of her baked zita in silence. Macie discussed with Ginger about the new Little Seal Girl movie that was coming out in the summer. But Ginger didn't feel right with Dodie not joining the discussion. But she didn't want to be bothered.

But Macie didn't seem to notice. "Don't you have anything to say, Dodie?"

She opened her mouth, but whatever it was she was going to say was lost when somebody said the words that always caused Ginger's heart to skip. "Food fight!"

"Here we go again," she muttered.

"Don't their mothers teach them manners?" Macie thought for a second. "Or their fathers, as the case may be."

"In today's world, Macie," Dodie snorted. "You must be joking."

"Dodie, things can't be that bad."

Macie's words were proven false when Ginger was hit on the back of the head by some kind of creamy object. She put her hand there and examined the goo that she found there. Lemon marguine pie. Now she knew why they didn't serve it in the cafeteria. So it wouldn't serve as weapons in food fights, such as the one that was happening now.

But for some reason it was allowed to be in kids' lunches brought from home. Go figure. "You were saying, Macie?"

"Never mind." Macie ducked her head so that she was less of a target. Ginger sighed for the second time that hour.

"Ginger, grab a cupcake and join the fun," a boy with blond hair and freckles told her.

"I am going to eat this," she coolly replied. "And I'm not joining any food fights." She scratched an inch on her right arm that came from nowhere.

The boy shrugged. "Your loss." He then proceed to toss an apple at Ginger's cheek.

It was the last thing that Ginger remembered.

- -

"How could you do that to Ginger, Pedro Sanchez?" Dodie was clutching his collar and yelling into his face.

"But I didn't hit her that hard, Dodie." Pedro tried to escape, but Dodie's grip was far too strong for him to break free. "I swear."

"He's right, Dodie," Macie said. "He only tossed the apple at Ginger. It couldn't possibly have enough energy to do Ginger any real harm."

"See? See? So why don't you-"

Dodie slammed against the line of lockers behind. "I'm asking the questions here, punk. Now I'm going to ask you this very… care… fully. And speak truthfully. I would know. Did you put any foreign substance into the apple or do you have any knowledge of anyone of putting a foreign substance into the apple."

"No. I swear on my mother's dear, departed ghost."

"Don't do that," Macie gasped. "I'm not that she would appreciate it if you used her for a bible."

They stared at her with mouths hanging open. Had she really just say that? Dodie turned back to Pedro. "Okay, I guess you can go now. But I will be keeping my eye on you."

Pedro nodded as Dodie let go of his collar. When he was free, he hurried off toward his class. Then she heard a slow clap behind her. Surprised, Dodie turned around. Across the hall in front of an opened locker stood Miranda, clapping her hands with a slow rhythm. "I hate to admit it, Bishop. That was the way to get answers out of the students. Not bad. Not bad at all."

"Oh, I'm sure that you could've done a lot better."

"Of course I could have done better," Miranda replied. "But just because I had a lot more practice."

"Of course," Dodie laughed nervously. "But I don't see what you could want from us."

Miranda grinned. It wasn't a particularly inviting one, but it was the best that she seemed capable of. "I want you to help me find who had done this."

"But I thought that you hated Ginger," Macie said.

"This is true," Miranda said. Then her voice turned cold and hateful. "But the same thing happened to Courtney as well. I want the one responsible to pay," she growled.

Dodie was impressed. She didn't usually see Miranda this emotional. "But shouldn't we leave this to the school."

"But you were just accosting a student over this very issue. Weren't you, Dodie?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"But nothing. You're already in this. And up to your necks." Miranda smiled evilly. "Plus if you don't help, I'll report to the principal what you were just doing."

"But won't Pedro just report to him about that anyway?"

"Pedro? Not a chance." Miranda thrusted her hand toward Dodie. "So is it a deal or not?"

Reluctantly Dodie nodded and shook the offered hand.

"You too, Lightfoot?"

"I'm innocent, I tell ya. Innocent," Macie shook her head.

"Hmmph. I wouldn't count on."

"What do you mean," Dodie asked.

"Nobody's innocent."

"I suppose that's true," Dodie said quietly.

"I'm still not joining your little scheme," said Macie.

"Your loss." Suddenly Miranda doubled over with eyes widened with surprise. Dodie had just pounded her fist into Miranda's gut. "Wow. I didn't know you had it in you."

"I'm sor-"

Miranda cut off Dodie with two fingers to the mouth. "No, don't apologize. It'll ruin the effect," she managed to say.

"Effect? I just slugged you. Why would you be worried about effect?"

"Relax, Bishop." Miranda was starting to stand back. "You're perfect for the job."

"What job?"

"You'll see." Miranda almost standing perfectly straight; although she did hold her left arm to her belly. "You can leave us now, Lightfoot." Macie stood still. "Unless you want to join us."

Macie looked to Dodie. "It's alright," she replied.

Macie left, absolutely bewildered. Just who was this Miranda Kilgallen anyway?

- - -

When Ginger woke up her nose was threatening to separate itself from her forehead. She looked through half-opened eyes up at the nurse. "What happened?"

"A kid hit you with an apple."

"I don't care about that, Nurse Pumpkin. Why was I out?"

"It was the hit to the noggin, Dear."

"You mean the one to my cheek," Ginger asked with astonishment. "That wasn't nearly hard enough."

The nurse shrugged. "I don't see what else could have caused to faint like that."

Ginger saw Courtney in another bed in the nurse's office. "Ohmygosh, what happened to Courtney, Nurse Pumpkin?"

"The same thing as you. A hit to the noggin."


	2. A Sinister Plot

As Told by Ginger Copyright Viacom 

**Chapter 2: A Sinister Plot**

Written: 23 Dec 2004-4 Jan 2005

Posted: 5 Jan 2005

"Why did I have to hit Miranda in her belly," Dodie asked with her head on the classroom table Macie. "Why?"

"All the pent-up rage perhaps," Macie replied.

Dodie glared back.

"Or maybe not." Macie shrunk back.

Dodie sighed. "I just hope that Ginger gets better."

"Me too."

"Don't worry about me, you guys." They looked up. Ginger moved carefully into the room. It seemed that she hadn't fully woken up yet. "Courtney, on the other hand, is still out cold."

"Dear God," Macie stood up, "Courtney has struck down too?"

"I wouldn't go that far, Macie," Ginger said as she went to her seat. "Right?" she continued when she saw Dodie's expression.

"Miranda believes that there's an assailant," she said.

"Miranda?" Ginger sighed. "She probably thinks I'm the attacker."

Dodie glanced in Miranda's direction, who was having a discussion with Mipsy. "Maybe."

Miranda paused from her conservation with Mipsy to glare back at Dodie. Blushingly, Dodie looked away ashen-faced. Through the corner of her eye, she saw Miranda return to her conservation with Mipsy. Amazingly, Miranda look even more smug since she had been slugged. Dodie shivered.

That woman was scary.

And suddenly Dodie had the dreadful thought it was a wicked plan hatched by Miranda and Courtney just to torment her. A devious plot to get her out of their collective hair forever. But she realized how foolish that would be. Courtney barely even knew that Dodie existed, and the one Miranda really hated was Ginger.

Dodie swallowed. So there was a plot afoot, only it was against Ginger, not Dodie. She was going to have to have a closer eye on Miranda. It was, indeed, a quite fortunate turn events that she agreed to team up with Miranda after all. Dodie could spy on Miranda without her knowing about it.

She started to giggle lightly. And soon she began to chuckle. And then harder and harder. She felt like she was going to burst. She tried to keep in it all in, but it proved to be in vain. She suddenly burst out in a full-blown laugh. She must have laughed for a full minute before settling down. After she had recovered somewhat, she saw the looks in her classmates' faces, and her face reddened from embarrassment. She began studying the hands folded on her lap. "I apologize for my outburst."

"Good grief, woman," Macie said, "don't leave us in suspense. What was so funny?"

Dodie hestitated. She didn't really wanted to say in front of Miranda. She didn't seem to listening. But she was always listening into your conversation. Always.

Dodie, however, was relieved when saw the teacher enter the room. "I'll tell you after class."

"Okay, Dodie," Ginger said. "If you think that's best. But we might not even care then."

Dodie shrugged. "What can I say? Class is starting."

Courtney entered the room with a note in one hand and the other hand holding her forehead. "Sorry that I'm late. Miss Shields. But it really wasn't my fault." She shot an accusing finger at Mipsy. "She attacked me."

Miss Shields frowned. "Do you have any evidence for these claims of yours?"

"Of course I do, Miss Shields." She glared at Mipsy, who was staring back in shock. "I wouldn't have made the accusation if I didn't." Mipsy shook her head, her eyes pleading for Courtney to stop. But apparently she didn't notice, as she kept going. "I have it here." She pulled her left sleeve up and revealed…

…a bright red rash there.

"That's all very interesting, Courtney, but what does that have to do with Mipsy?"

"I saw her put it there."

The entire class gasped and turned toward Mipsy. "I just touched arm, Courtney," she almost yelled.

"You see? She's practically in hysterics already. That's her guilty conscience speaking. That's how you can tell a guilty person, they break down and cry when you confront them with their crimes."

"It doesn't work out that way," Miss Shields said. "There are people who are proud of the most vile crimes imaginable. ("Now, there's a cheerful thought for you," Macie said.) And there are people who weep if they have the slightest involvement at all with a crime."

"And your point is?" Courtney blinked.

Miss Shields groaned. "My point is that she might have not done it."

"But she done it. I swear!"

Dodie shook her head. Mipsy wasn't the one who had did it. It was Miranda Kilgallon. Dodie was quite sure of it.

As Courtney passed by their table, she stopped and said to Ginger, "I heard the same that had happened to me happened to you too."

Ginger nodded.

"Ah good." Courtney sounded very relieved. "I was beginning to think I was the only one."

-OOO-

"Hope Rodgers fainted, too?" The nurse frowned. "That's the third one today."

The teacher frowned. "There were two before her?"

"I'm afraid so."

"What do you think is happening to these kids?"

"I wish I knew, Mrs. Feldman," the nurse said. "I wish I knew."

The intercom came to life. "Students and faculty of Luck Junior High," the voice said. It wasn't Principal Milty's. "Students who have been eating the fish today are now dropping like flies." The mysterious voice began cackling.

The nurse's blood froze. Even though she knew that the students were waking back up, she really didn't like the sound of the voice's last statement.

Soon the voice stopped laughing, however. "That is all," it said calmly and the intercom was silent.

"Who the hell was that?" the nurse demanded.

"I don't know," Mrs. Feldman said. "But I'm going down to the Office and getting to the bottom of this." She stormed toward the door.

But before she could get there, however. She stumbled and reached for the cabinet for support. "I forgot I had the school's fish for lunch. Last time I'm getting anything from the cafeteria."

She collapsed.

"Oh, dear," the nurse said.

A blond boy entered the room. "I don't feel so good, Miss Pumpkin." He fell to the floor in the middle of the doorway.

-OOO-

"Guys, I hate to tell you this," Ginger said. "But I didn't have fish for lunch!"

Macie's and Dodie's relief evaporated like the mid-morning's mist. "Pardon?" Macie said.

"I didn't have fish for lunch."

"But if it wasn't the fish that made you sick," Dodie said. "What did?"

"I'm afraid that I'm responsible for that," a familiar voice said.

"Latasha?" Ginger said. "You the one who knocked me out?"

"And Courtney, too." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a blowgun. "I wish that I knew why, but I used this to shoot you two with some kind of dart and you dropped like sacks of potatoes."

"But why, Latashia," Ginger said. "I though you were our friend."

"I am. It's just that… lately, I have been doing things I haven't been able to explain." She dropped her gaze. "For instance, I said, 'F-word you' to my dad."

"My god," Macie breathed.

Latasha looked up. "But I think it has something to do with the tainted fish." She sighed. "And I hate to admit this, but I might be the one who did it."


	3. Enter Nurse Foutley

_Missygirl852000_, Thank you.

_Shimigami_, I've never actually watched a single episode of Yu-gi-Oh, so that's pretty wild. And Latasha just might have a split personality. ;)

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

**Chapter 3: Enter Nurse Foutley**

Written: 9 Feb 2005-15 Feb 2005

Posted: 15 Feb 2005

Ginger now had Latasha's hands in her own. "Trust me, Latasha, that wasn't your voice on the intercom."

"It isn't?" Latasha said.

"Believe us, Latasha," Dodie said. "If anyone would know your voice, it would be us."

"So she's not the one on the intercom," Miranda growled. "Still doesn't mean she isn't the one who tainted the fish."

There came a hush into the room. But that was soon broken when Latasha began sobbing. "You're not helping, Miranda," Ginger said, embracing Latasha. "That's all right, Latasha. She didn't mean it."

"I mean what I say," Miranda said coldly. "And I say what I mean."

"Are you sure that you were the one who attacked Ginger and Courtney," Dodie asked.

Latasha nodded. "Quite sure."

Mrs. Shields cleared her throat. "Ladies, we are still conducting a class here."

"Sorry, Ma'am," Ginger said. "It won't happen again."

-OOO-

"Just why did you call me in, Milty?" Mrs. Foutley had been called down to the Junior High, and she still had no idea why.

"Some of our students have been fainting after eating some fish for lunch that seems to have been tainted," Mr. Milty replied.

"But why me," Mrs. Foutley asked. "I'm not a toxicologist."

"We have already identified the agent."

"That was quick."

"I'm sure that you're familiar with it." He handed her a manila folder.

She opened it. "I don't see how I could help with anything special." She looked it over, took a sharp breath, and read it more carefully. "I see," she said, handing it back. "When I do start?"

"As soon as you can."

-OOO-

Five more students had succumbed to the food poisoning that day. Ginger didn't like where this day headed at all. "I still say that Skull-girl was the one did the poisoning," Miranda said after the school day was over.

"Miranda," Ginger said, "I'm sure that she wouldn't poison all those people."

She was walking down the hall surrounded by Miranda, Dodie, Macie and Latasha.

"I'm afraid she might be right, Ginger," Latasha sighed.

"Why do you say that, Latasha?"

Latasha stopped walking, and the others followed suit. "Well, it all started when I got up this morning…"

-OOO-

When Latasha woke, she had the oddest feeling. Like somebody was watching her. Only not with their eyes. She shook her head to clear it as she sat up in bed. She was used to having strange thoughts in the morning, but this was almost too weird. Perhaps it had something to do with the movie she had watched the night before. It was about these aliens who were watching the Earth from their far-away planet. Waiting. Planning. Biding their time until it was time to strike. Perhaps she shouldn't stay up late watching those horror movies. She had seen them all before anyway.

"Oh well," she shrugged.

She got up, got dressed, and met her father in the kitchen. "Good morning, Dad."

Mr. Bowers looked from the boiling on the stove. "Oh, good morning, Latasha. Got that presentation of yours ready?"

"That isn't due until tomorrow, Dad," Latasha said. "And yes, it is ready." She sniffed the air. "And what's with you and grits?"

"Don't try knock 'em 'til you try 'em," Mr. Bowers grinned.

Latasha made a face. "No thanks." She saw the plate with bacon and eggs with a glass of orange juice set out on the table. "So what's the special occasion?"

Mr. Bowers shrugged grudgingly. "I thought you were giving your presention today. So I made you bacon and eggs for good luck."

"Bacons and eggs are lucky?"

"Yep, that's what my Dad taught me. And now I teaching you." And the school thought _she_ was strange.

"I guess you have to make my pancakes as well tomorrow," she joked.

"Now you're getting it!" Mr. Bower said with approval.

"Oh, joy," she said dryly.

She moved to sit in the chair, but before she could, she froze when she suddenly remembered that she was being watched as if she were a laboratory specimen. She shivered as she sunk into her seat. "Is there anything wrong, honey," Mr. Bowers asked, obviously very concerned.

Latasha was very grateful for her father's tender loving care and was going to share with him the awful feeling that was getting. But instead she said, "F- you." It was when she the shocked expression on his face that she realized what she had just said. She wanted to apologize, but her mouth seemed to have ceased to work, as she couldn't form anything coherent with it.

"Just all right, Latasha," Mr. Bowers said with a lowered head. "You didn't know what you were saying. I forgive you."

She ate her breakfast in silence while her father was finishing with his grits.

-OOO-

"Say what do you think?" Latasha said after she had finished telling her story.

"That doesn't explain why hit Ginger and Courtney with whatever you had hit them with," Dodie said.

"No, it doesn't," Latasha agreed. "But I still explain my rudeness to my father or his reaction to it."

"A split personality, maybe?" Macie shrugged.

"What exactly is that?" Latasha laughed. "Like sometimes I think I'm a five-year-old boy or something?"

"Possibly," Macie said. "Psychologists don't agree on what it is."

Miranda said sharply, "Face it, girls. Latasha's nuts and we all know it." Then she left the group, laughing the whole way.

"Hhm, maybe she's the one who's crazy," observed Dodie.

"She's right, Latasha," Ginger said, patting Latasha on the back. "Miranda always sees the worst in people." She shot a glare at Dodie.

"What?" Dodie held her hands wide in the air.

"That doesn't mean I'm not crazy," Latasha mused.

The intercom cackled to life. "Attention: students and faculty. Would all students report to the auditorium? We're doing a survey. So would all students report to the auditorium?"

"Now they wants to go the auditorium," Dodie said. "What about the students who already left?"

"I don't know, Dodie," Ginger said. "I just don't know."

Ginger saw that Miranda had stopped in front of the front door. "Oh, just great. On the one day that I had free. Figures."

While her schedule was a littler freer, Ginger did agree with Miranda on one point. The school really did some bad timing.

-OOO-

"It is time, Mrs. Foutley," the secretary said.

Mrs. Foutley nodded before tapping her folder against the desk and getting up. Together they left for the school's auditorium.


	4. The Assembly

Thanks for reviewing, Shinigami and Heart of Love.

Shinigami, that question will be answered in this chapter.

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

**Chapter 4: The Assembly**

Written: 16 Mar 2005-21 Mar 2005

Posted: 22 Mar 2005

Ginger looked the auditorium uneasily. She didn't know what this surprise student assembly was about. And apparently none of the other students did either. Everyone was murmuring with each other with some pretty wild rumors. The school had those kids poisoned so they could keep them locked up, Mrs. Felton merely being an "unfortunate" casualty. Terrorists have attacked the school. The government is conducting secret experiments. But the most prevalent rumor of all hurt the most.

It was the one that Latasha was the one behind all the poisonings. There was simply no way that she could have the one who had done it. Latasha wasn't a heartless witch.

Maybe Dodie was right. Maybe it had been Miranda who had poisoned the fish. But why would she do such a thing? Ginger couldn't see what Miranda could possibly gain from such an act. So Ginger had doubts about her involvement. She just couldn't see it.

But she didn't know of any other suspects.

She was just grateful that it wasn't her responsibility to find the culprits. She was going to leave to the emergency services to do that.

Soon the auditorium was full, and Principal Milty, with the school three steps behind, stepped onto the stage and behind the podium. "Welcome, students of Lucky Jr. High. I'm sorry to inform that students are to remain in the school until the crisis passes. Your parents have-"

"You can't do that," a brown-haired boy said. "We have rights."

"You have to right," Principal Milty said, "not to get poisoned by your fellow classmates."

"How do you that it's a classmate that done it?"

"Or the faculty," Principal Milty added. "Pillows and sleeping bags will be issued if the crisis goes into the night." _Sleeping bags and pillows?_ Ginger thought. _What the heck was going on here?_ "But before we proceed with the investigation, would everyone who had the fish from the cafeteria head down to the stage for the antidote." _The antidote? What were everybody poisoned with?_

"Antidote?" the brown-haired asked. "What's everybody poisoned with?" He repeated Ginger's unspoken question almost word-for-word.

Principal Milty flipped through his notes before answering. "Zowialof."

Ginger a student on the other side of the auditorium cough. Clearly she wasn't the only way who's never heard of it. "Zowoa-what?" Courtney asked from the row behind Ginger.

"Zowialof," Principal Milty repeated. "Perhaps Nurse Foutley can explain it better when she comes."

"Why didn't just wait for the nurse to explain it," Miranda wondered from behind Ginger.

Ginger began to wonder about two things. Didn't the school already a school nurse to tell them these things? And was there another nurse named Foutley in town?

Her question was answered when he mother walked out on to the stage. "Oh great," she moaned as she shrunk into her seat. "It _is_ my mom."

"Oh ho ho," Miranda said. "That Lois Foutley is one busy woman."

"Tell me about it," Ginger said in a quiet tone.

Mrs. Foutley stood behind the podium. "Let's start with just one word," she said. "Zowilof."

The audience remained unmoved.

Mrs. Foutley leaned on the podium. "Well let me tell about an African village I visited a few years back, before I had Ginger." Ginger's face flashed red as she heard the kids murmur around her. _Why did she have to bring me into this?_ "I was in the Peace Corps in those days, and I was part of an effort to bring medical aid to famine-stricken families in the region. As prepared as I was, I still wasn't ready to face what I saw that first day." She shivered. "I went in to meet with Dr. Lochley with nothing but optimism. But the African jungle had other plans." There had already been dozens of patients lying in bed brought down by a mysterious case of sleeping sickness. The doctor had then spent several weeks searching for the cause.

It turned out to be Zowielof in their water supply.

"And none of the poor people ever woke up," Mrs. Foutley concluded.

A redheaded boy swooned and fainted.

About forty percent of the students got up and went down to the stage. Ginger had to admit. That was a very moving story.

She wondered why she had never heard it before. Her mother told her and her brother a lot of nursing stories over the years. And Ginger had never heard of her having a stint in Africa. Had it been a secret? From her own family?

If so, what was different now that she brought the secret out into the open? It couldn't possibly be the same poison that had been used in Africa. Could it?

Her arm was shook. Ginger looked up and met Courtney's gaze. "Let's see if your mother has to say about our attack, shall we?"

"But what good will that do? My mom's a nurse, not a doctor."

"But as her last story showed," Courtney said with a sly smile, "'that woman has her secrets,' as Miranda would say."

"But she's just a nurse."

"So you say." Courtney was grinning now. "But you never know…" She trailed off, waiting for Ginger's answer.

Ginger sighed. Courtney was right. Ginger didn't know.

OOO-

Dodie thanked god that she hadn't had fish for lunch that day. She had a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich that had been made by her mother's loving hands. And from the look of things so far, she wasn't about to get lunch from the cafeteria any time soon.

"That was a very interesting story," Macie whispered to her. "But I wonder if it had anything with the attacks on Ginger and Courtney."

Dodie shrugged. She didn't know.

"It just might," Miranda agreed. A bit too loudly in fact.

"Miranda, I thought you wanted to keep it a secret from Courtney and Ginger," Dodie said.

"Oh, they just left," Miranda replied. "We're quite alone here."

Dodie looked around the seats nearby. The closet student was five chairs away. "Huh. Look at that. Did all those people have salmon surprise?"

"They sure did," Miranda cooed. "Boy Chef Bob sure isn't going to like this." She slowly shook her head. "Not at all."

"No, he isn't," Macie said sadly.

"Yeah, we all feel sorry for Chef Bob," Dodie said. "But I still don't see what this health threat has to do with the attack on Ginger and Courtney."

"They're both poisonings, right?"

"Right," Dodie said uncertainly.

"Well, poison was the weapon of choice for women during the Middle Ages. It doesn't take great strength to deliver, almost detectable, and so it could be used with no one the wiser. I think a girl here at Lucky Junior High is the one behind the poisonings. And I know it would be."

Dodie and Macie exchanged glances. "Don't leave us in suspense," Dodie said. "Who is it?"

"Courtney Gripling."


	5. The Quarantine

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 5: The Quarantine

Written: 1 Apr 2005-30 Apr 2005

Posted: 26 May 2005

"What did you girls want to see me about?" Lois asked when the crowd of fish-eaters had thinned out. She had been impressed. She had never seen Courtney wait that patiently before. Of course she hadn't seen Courtney that often. But still…

"We were wondering," Courtney seemed to speak for both herself and Ginger. "We were both attacked earlier. Should we be concerned?"

"We were both attacked, Mrs. Foutley." She exposed the mark on her right arm. "Do you think that it could be related to Zowielof that you mentioned earlier?"

"It could be," she replied. "Let me take a look."

"Is this really necessary?" Ginger asked as her mother took hold of her arm to take a closer look.

"It just might be, Ging. It just might be."

"Listen to your mother, Ginger," Courtney said. "She's a nurse. She knows what she's talking about."

"Well okay. But could not you take a blood sample? It would be way too embarrassing."

"Don't worry, Ginger."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's what the nurse's office is for."

Ginger nodded. "Right. Of course."

"So what happened all those years ago, Mrs. Foutley?" Courtney asked.

"Let me tell you girls," Mrs. Foutley said. "It was the scariest moment in my life until I saw the ghost of Maude Webley."

"But, Mom, there isn't such thing as ghosts," Ginger pointed out.

"That's what I had thought, too, Ging."

OOO-

"Why did you bring us to the library, Miranda?" Macie asked.

"Yeah, Miranda," Dodie said. "I don't see what good it's going to do."

"The answers to our questions are in this library," Miranda replied. "I can feel it."

"In a middle school library?" Dodie looked uncertainly across the library. There might have been answers in there, but surely none to their questions. "I don't know."

Miranda clapped her on the back. "Go ahead. What could it hurt?"

"We could waste a whole lot of time, Miranda."

"Haven't you heard? We now have all the time in the world."

Dodie sighed.

Five minutes later she found herself looking through the library's most up-to-date encyclopedia. It was two years old. She still didn't know what she was looking for. "Maybe it's just Miranda who's doing the search," she murmured.

"What was that, Dodie?" Macie asked, looking up from the medical dictionary she had opened before her.

"Never mind, Macie. Just thinking out loud."

"You wouldn't want Miranda to overhear you. She might get the impression that you weren't looking for it."

"Looking for what, Macie?"

Macie merely shrugged.

"This is the twenty-first century, girls!" Dodie looked up. Miranda was standing over them like a hawk with a sheet of paper in her hand. "Use the internet not these fossils."

"But I don't know how to use a computer."

"You mean you haven't learned anything from computer class?"

Dodie shook her head. "I didn't take computers."

"Then what have you been doing all seventh period?"

"Oh, was that computer class?"

"Ho boy. I think I'm going to need a transfer to another school."

"What was that, Miranda?"

"Never mind that," Miranda snapped. Then she said soothingly, "Don't worry. I'll teach you how it's done." She shrugged. "I can't have you muddle through this like you usually do. It's far too important."

"Aw right, Miranda, but I don't see why you would my help."

"An extra pair of eyes."

OOO-

Carl was surprised to find out that he was to stay with the Bishops'. And by the one who had just gave the news. Especially since Jojo wasn't too fond of him. "What happened to Mom and Ginger?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Bishop said. "But your mother was very specific. She wanted to you to stay with a friend until the crisis passed and my daring husband volunteered us."

"Crisis? What crisis?"

"She didn't say," Mrs. Bishop snorted. "But that's hardly anything new." She opened her front door. "We aren't exactly close."

"Yes," Carl nodded. "And neither are we."

Mrs. Bishop looked at him with disdain and entered her house. "I don't why I keep letting Lois force you onto me," she said as she went in.

"Your generous nature perhaps?"

"Do I need to remind you to rules, Carl Foutley?"

"No of course not, Jojo."

"Why do insist on calling me that?"

"You look like a Jojo to me."

"Well I'm not. So stopping calling me that."

Carl stepped into the house and looked around. "Where's Hoodsey?"

"With his father. Being a good little boy. Helping him get groceries."

"Ah, I see."

"But I wish they would tell us just what happened at the school to require a quarantine there."

"A quarantine? How interesting…"

"Carl Foutley. You aren't going to break the quarantine on my watch.

But Carl was already making to do just that.

OOO-

Dodie had been quite surprised when he getting onto the internet for the first time out of class. From what her mother had said, you would have supposed that the internet was a nest for pornography and sleaze. But then again, her mother did put out the failings of the world, real and imagined. But she didn't feel very useful. She didn't understand any of this medical mumbo-jumbo.

She simply saved _everything_ that she finds onto a disk that Miranda had provided her. As she did, she wondered how she could have ever forgotten her time in computer class. But that still left a question unanswered.

Where did Miranda get the CD burner? Dodie gave the machine sitting on the desk next to the computer a glance before getting back to work. After all, did she really have anything better to do?

"What is this?" Miranda asked suddenly from her computer. She didn't speak that loudly, but their computers were next to each other, so Dodie could easily overhear her.

"What is it, Miranda?"

Miranda had a feline grin. "Something to get our butts out of here."

The intercom came to life. "Attention, students, dinner will be served in the cafeteria in fifteen minutes. Repeat. Dinner will served in the cafeteria in fifteen minutes."

"Oh great," Dodie said. "We've already been here for hours."

"Relax, Bishop. I have a feeling that we won't be here for much longer."


	6. A Truth Revealed

Nonymous, I just made the word up.

Shinigami, not everything is what it appears. Note the reference to Maude Webley.

**As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom**

Chapter 6: A Truth Uncovered

Written: 12 Jun 2005-27 Jul 2005

Posted: 27 Jul 2005

As they marched toward the Office followed by Dodie and Macie, Dodie asked, "What did you find that's going to get us out of here, Miranda?"

Miranda grinned. "It's a surprise."

"Somehow, Miranda," Macie said, "when you say it, it actually sounds creepy."

"Thank you."

"I didn't think that was a compliment," Dodie said to Macie.

"I didn't think so either."

Miranda didn't answer. They wouldn't believe her anyway. Geeks never did.

-OOO-

Carl hid behind the bushes by the Junior High School with Hoodsey in tow and watched the place through his binoculars. Everything seemed to be normal.

Except for the black-out curtains of course. Which were very unusual. Carl had read about them in History class. They had employed to prevent light from leaking out and providing the enemy from getting a clear shot. So what were that about? What were they trying to hide in there?

Whatever it was, Carl was going to find what it.

"Carl," Hoodsey said, "are you sure that this is such a good idea? It sure doesn't to me."

"It's quite simple, Hoodsey. If we don't find out what's wrong at Ginger's and Dodie's school, who will?"

"Can't we just leave to the authorities?"

"The authorities don't know what they're doing, Hoodsey," Carl said. "It's up to us to save our sisters."

"But, Carl, we can we do about it?"

Carl raised his index finger. "Watch and learn."

A moment later, Hoodsey said, "Then I guess that Blake is already learning, Carl."

"Don't be silly, Hoodsey. Blakey boy is nowhere near here."

"Then who's that, Carl?" Hoodsey pointed across the yard toward another line of bushes on the other side of school campus.

"I'm sure just a shadow, Hoodsey…" Carl did a double take when he turned to look. Blake was indeed hiding in those other bushes. "What in the world?" He turned to Hoodsey. "Just what is _he_ doing here?"

Hoodsey shrugged. "I don't know, Carl. You think we should maybe ask him?"

"Are you nuts, Hoodsey? If we did that, he would know that we're here. And that's totally unacceptable."

"But he already knows that we're here."

Carl looked. And found Blake stared back through binoculars of his own.

Carl swore.

"Wow, Carl! Where did you learn those words?"

"Never mind that, Hoodsey," Carl said. He sighed. "Come on. Let's go go see what he wants. It seems that he already knows that we're here, so we might as well go with your plan. But, Hoodsey, let me do all the talking."

-OOO-

"Carl. Woodsey. What brings you two here?" Blake asked pleasantly.

"Actually we were about to ask you the same thing, Blakey," Carl said. "Don't you have station wagons to collect?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Blake said. "That Father's hobby, not mine."

"My mistake. But may I assume that the reason you're here is the same reason we're here. Then maybe we could get on with our respective missions."

"If I can assume the same."

"Of course."

"You mean our sisters are trapped in that school," Hoodsey said, "and have no idea why."

Carl muttered nothing kind while Blake said, "Exactly."

"Now that we have that settled, I suggest we go our separate ways."

"Deal." They shook hands to seal the deal.

After the two groups had separated from each other, Hoodsey said, "Was that really necessary, Carl? We could have used his help."

"Blake's help? Not happening," Carl dismissed.

"Why not?"

"Blakey-boy isn't the kind that you can depend on." Then Carl crept forward. "Come on, Hoods, there has to be some way into this place."

"But what if it there wasn't?"

"There has to be, Hoodsey. There just has to be."

Hoodsey patted his best friend on the back. "I know. I want to see my sister too. I'm sure that you'll find a way, even if that should happen."

Carl nodded gratefully.

And they crept their way around the perimeter of the Junior High.

-OOO-

"So let me straight, Miranda. There is no such thing as Zowilof?" Principal Milty fiddled with his pencil. "That's not what Nurse Foutley tells me."

"Nevertheless, it's perfectly true," Miranda answered calmly.

Principal Milty looked at her skeptically. "What evidence do you have for such allegations?"

Display the document she had printed out in the library, she had a crocodile's grin. "This is the proof."

"Miranda, you know as well as I do that information isn't the most reliable. I'm assuming of course that's where you had found this." Miranda nodded. "I'm getting a real expert in on this." Then he went to the intercom. "Lois, could you come in here please." Then he said to Miranda, "Could you wait here for a moment?"

"Of course."

Miranda returned to where Dodie and Macie were sitting by the receptionist. "I don't think he believed me."

"What do you expect, Miranda?" Macie asked. "Mrs. Foutley said she faced the Zowilof menace in the deep African jungle." Miranda stared at her. "We eavesdropped with Prinicipal Milty."

"Macie!" Dodie exclaimed.

"I was well aware of your eavesdropping," Miranda said. "I just can't believe you can be so naïve. Just when did Ginger's mother ever leave the country? Let alone go to Africa?"

Dodie and Macie looked at each other uncertainly. "Uh…"

Miranda smirked.

"But, Miranda, why would Ginger's mom lie like that?" Dodie asked.

"That's a good question. Why don't we ask him when she gets here?"

"Hi, girls," Ms. Foutley said as she entered the Office. "What are you three doing here?"

Miranda grinned. The kind of grin that tells the world that its owner has a secret. _Inquiring minds want to know and whatnot._ "I'm on to you, Lois Foutley."

"You're not making sense, Miranda."

"I know that there's no such thing as Zowilof."

"Of course there is. I saw it in Africa. And I don't like your tune, young lady."

"Exactly how long ago was this trip of yours?" Miranda persisted.

"Well, it was from before Carl was born," Ms. Foutley replied. "But I don't see… You don't believe me, do you?" she surmised.

"No."

Ms. Foutley thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, Miranda. But it's the truth."

"Ms. Foutley, the principal will see you now," the receptionist said. "And he asks you to bring the girls with you."

"What's this all about?"

"What we were just talking about, Ms. Foutley," Miranda replied.

-OOO-

They found a eighteen-inch hole in a forgotten corner of the school building. It looked that way to Carl anyway. None of the spotlights hit anywhere near it. "You first, buddy."

"But I would barely fit through there, Carl. What if I get struck?"

"Nonsense. You said yourself that you would fit."

"I don't know…"

"I'll let you beat me at razorinator."

"Deal." They shook.

And Hoodsey knelt down to crawl into the hole.


	7. The Mysterious Note from Nowhere

Shinigami, yes, Hoodsey, in my story at least, does good eyes. And Lois isn't lieing. And Miranda just wants out of there.

A.Nonymous, it was something she found on the Internet. And as for Carl and Hoodsey, just read on.

This is the next addition to the story, so read on.

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 7: The Mysterious Note from Nowhere 

Written: 22 Sep 2005-23 Sep 2005

Posted: 25 Sep 2005

"So I see that you got Milty in on this nonsense as well," Mrs. Foutley said.

"Hardly, Ms. Foutley," Principal Milty replied. "I just brought you in to prove to Miranda that her claims are simply not true."

"Oh, they're true alright," Miranda said.

Mrs. Foutley frowned. "Just where did you get a silly idea like that anyway?"

Miranda displayed the pages that she had printed in the library earlier. Dodie's curiosity about those pages had grown steadily ever since she had first set her eyes upon them. Just what did they say? But she knew better than to just ask.

Macie asked for her. "Just what is that?"

Miranda's smiled thinly. "Why it's just something from the MythExploders website. They undeniably demonstrate that Zowilof is a myth. There's no such thing." She gave the nurse a scathing look. "And a toxin is hardly a reason for a quarantine."

"But it's standard procedure for dealing with this sort of thing."

"Just what sort of thing would that be? And who exactly laid down this procedure of yours?"

Mrs. Foutley smiled warmly. "Why, Dr. Lochley, of course."

"And the sort of thing."

"That would be Zowialof."

"What is this Zowialof stuff? And how come I never heard of it?"

Mrs. Foutley sighed. "I guess we have to call another assembly."

Principal Milty nodded. "It would seem to be case alright."

"That's not very satisfactory," Miranda retorted. "I want an answer now."

_Oh great_, Dodie thought. _Miranda's pushiness was really getting out of hand. Now she was yelling at the principal._

"No, Miranda," Principal Milty said flatly. "We'll just have to wait until the assembly just like every other student."

Miranda crossed her arms and looked away. "No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. And you know better to believe everything you find on the Internet."

-OOO-

Ginger held her sleeping bags out at arm's length as she walked toward the principal's office. The body odor that it came with was getting to be overpowering. Surely there had to be a way to exchange this sleeping bag for another. Schools couldn't possibly be that barbaric.

A loud belch by her right ear bid her to stop. She groaned when she found Bryant Hugsby scratch his butt. From inside his pants.

"School _is_ that barbaric!" she cried.

"Excuse me?" Bryant asked.

"Never mind."

She arrived at the office about a minute after her little "chat" with Stuart. She started to ask the receptionist about the sleeping bag switch before realized that Macie and Dodie, and Miranda, were in Principal Milty's office. He wasn't there.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" she asked as came in.

"Your mother is a liar," Miranda replied coolly.

"What?" She looked to Dodie, who was shaking her head. Which didn't help Ginger very much What that heck did that mean? Was she disagreeing with what Miranda was saying? Or did it mean that she was disgusted? "What are you talking about?"

Miranda handed her a stack of papers. "Just read this."

Ginger frowned. "Okay. I still don't see…." It occurred to her then that her sleeping bag didn't stink anymore. At all. "That's odd. This sleeping bag used to stink to high heaven. And it doesn't."

"Pardon?"

"It was permeated with B.O. as if Bryant Hugsby had slept in the nude for a month in it."

"Oh, never mind. I'll read it myself."

And Miranda began to read it.

"Myth: There is a government conspiracy withholding evidence of the existence of Zowialof," she began.

"Oh boy," Ginger muttered.

Miranda went on to explain that Zowialof was a theory concocted by drug-crazed hippies during the sixties in order to explain away why so many young men were so willing to go to war in Vietnam. And the government had started a policy of _deny, deny, deny_ and were employing people from all walks of life to maintain that policy. Doctors, farmers, police officers, bankers and even nurses. The government used bribes and threats to get those otherwise honest people to do their bidding.

It was of course a crock. There was no such as Zowilof. And there was no government conspiracy to cover it up. But there were private individuals willing to take advantage of the rumors.

Ginger kept her head bowed and eyes closed as Miranda read. Surely her mother knew what was going on, as she didn't have the foggiest idea herself. She wasn't even sure that she wanted to know. The fact was that Mrs. Foutley was telling one story and Miranda was telling another.

She had been afraid that she would hear that her mother was a liar. That was something that no one wanted to hear. But that was exactly what Miranda was saying.

Miranda concluded by saying, "Obviously your mother is one of those people."

"No!" Ginger lifted her head and her eyes were open. "That's not true, Miranda. My mother would never do the things that you describe. She isn't like that."

"Oh really, Foutley? Just how well do you know your mother?"

"Well enough"

Miranda smirked. "We'll just see next assembly, shall we?"

"Next assembly?"

"That's where Principal Milty and your mother went. To prepare for it. They're planning on justifying this quarantine of yours. But I know them for the frauds that they are. They won't get away with it."

"Isn't that a little clichish?" Macie observed.

Miranda glared back.

"Never mind."

Ginger face Miranda. "I don't care what you say, Miranda. My mother isn't a liar."

"Whatever it takes to look at your mother I suppose."

They both tried to stare the other down.

"Good heavens!" the receptionist said from the outer office. "Where did this note come from?"

The girls raced back out. "What is it?" Dodie asked.

"This." The receptionist showed them a sheet of letter covered with random letters, numbers and punctuation.

Miranda clutched it from her grasp. "What is this?"

"What we just need," Dodie told the ceiling. "Yet another mystery on our hands."

Ginger staggered back and dropped her sleeping bag before she was aware of the foul stench.

The body odor was back.

-OOO-

Carl felt in his element now that him and Hoodsey were trespassing on school grounds. And he was pretty sure that Blake had made his way in too. They had to move quickly if they wanted to do what they had come to do. But it seemed that their only threat was Blake. None of these junior high kids seemed to care at all about their presence. Not that there were very many students in the halls. They seemed to be concrated in some classroom or other.

"Carl, this is starting to creep me out," Hoodsey said as they passed a drinking fountain. "What if we get caught?"

"Come on, Hoodsey, what are the chances of that happening?"

"I say they're quite good." Carl froze. He knew that voice. Hesitant, he faced the source of that voice.

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

Mrs. Foutley had her hands on her hips. "Funny. That's what I should ask you."


	8. Dinner Time

A. Nonymous, those questions will be answered, and yes, I am having an OK time.

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 8: Dinner Time

Written: 12 Oct 2005-25 Oct 2005

Posted: 25 Oct 2005

As Ginger fought off the foul odor out of her nose, Miranda grumbled. "It's nothing. It's obviously by one the sixth-grade boys. It's so typical," she snorted.

"But, Courtney, how did get in Miss Starr's In pile?" Dodie asked.

"How should I know? I wasn't here to see. I was in Milty's office with you people the whole time."

Dodie had her fists on her hips. "Maybe you were the one who wrote the note and arranged it to be found by the school receptionist Miranda Kilgallen. Just so you can look the hero when you decode it."

"And what makes you so sure that I can crack codes, Bishop?"

Macie looked aghast. "You mean you can't?"

Miranda gave her expatriated look before continuing. "Math isn't my forte. But ferreting out secrets is." She drew closer to Dodie. "And don't think that you're off the hook, Bishop."

Dodie gulped.

Mrs. Foutley returned to the office towing Carl. "Speaking of secrets…" Miranda mused.

"Carl! What are you doing here?"

"Disobeying the rules of the house for one thing," Mrs. Foutley looked sternly at her son. "We'll discuss your punishment later."

"Just how did you get in here?" Miranda demanded.

"Why do ask?" Miss Starr asked while looking at Carl.

Miranda didn't answer right away.

Carl withered under the receptionist's stare. "Through a hole in the wall."

"That's why," Miranda replied smugly.

Miss Starr's face went pale. "Omygosh. There's a hole in our security."

"To say the least."

Mrs. Foutley knelt down and held Carl on his shoulders. "Now where is this hole?"

Carl avoided making eye contact. "By the cafeteria."

"Wait a minute," Dodie said suddenly. "If Carl's here, then where's Hoodsey?"

Mrs. Foutley looked helpless there watching Carl answer. "He got away."

-OOO-

"What are you doing here, little guy?" the pretty blonde with the dimples asked. She had knelt down to talk with Hoodsey.

"I'm looking for my best friend," he said, looking into those baby blue eyes. "Have you seen him?"

"No, silly. I mean how did you get in?"

Hoodsey adjusted his collar. "I followed Carl into this hole in the wall outside, and we crawled in."

She drew closer. "How big is this hole? Could it fit someone… like me, for instance?"

Hoodsey thought it for a bit. "I don't know. You're kinda bigger than me."

"I don't see how." She grinned sweetly. "You are a bit chubby."

"It's not my fault," Hoodsey insisted. "It's my me-tab-o-lism."

"Well, we'll just see about that." She stood up and clutched Hoodsey's shoulder. "Why don't you be a good boy and show Auntie Penny where this hole is?"

"Okay, ma'am. But do you have to hold onto my arm that hard?"

Penny loosened her grip slightly. But only slightly. "Is that better?"

Hoodsey nodded.

"Good. Let's get going then."

As they moved forward, he wasn't sure who was leading whom. But he nevertheless led her straight to the cafeteria where Carl and him had broken into the school. In a far corner, Hoodsey found the break in the wall where they had chiseled their way in (Hoodsey still couldn't imagine where Carl had carried those chisels), and the results of their handiwork on the floor. Once at the hole, they froze in surprise. Blake's head was poking out.

"Woodsey, what brings you here?"

"Haven't we been through this already, Blake?"

Penny drew in a sudden intake of air. "You know Blake Gripling?"

"Yes," Hoodsey said dryly. "We've met."

Penny turned to Blake. "Can you introduce me to your sister?"

"Now why should I do that for?"

"I have a special surprise for you." Penny smiled coyly as she wagged her shirt.

"Oh, really?" Blake blurted out. Then he calmed himself. "Sounds interesting." He emerged from the tunnel and stood. "Agreed." He shook hands with Penny.

Hoodsey scratched his head. What was that about?

"Now that that's taken care of." Penny got on her hands and knees and crawled toward the hole. And apparently began to compare its size to her own. And she got down on her stomach. "Drat! It's still too small."

Hoodsey gasped. "Is that why asked me to show you the hole? So you can sneak out?"

"Why else would I ask you?" Penny shrugged.

"Uhh…"

"You really are naïve, aren't you, Woodsey?" Blake quaffed.

"The name's Hoodsey, Blake. Not Woodsey."

"Yes, I know. Woodsey."

Hoodsey sighed. At this rate, Blake will never get his name right. Not that Hoodsey particularly cared. It's just that it was annoying when people get your name wrong.

The intercom came to life. "Attention, all students and faculty. There is an assembly after dinner. Repeat. An assembly is to take place after dinner."

"A second assembly!" Penny sprung up. "In one day."

-OOO-

"Well, we won't find him just standing around here," Miranda said.

"She's right, girls," Mrs. Foutley said. "Dodie and Macie, you're in one group, while Miranda and Ginger will be in the other." She turned to Carl. "And you, young man, I'm taking to the Principal."

If any of them saw anything with the plan, they didn't speak up. As they broke up into groups, Miranda took another look at the note. She could almost read it, but not quite. She put it back on the receptionist, when saw the look on her face. Oh well, she would another crack on it sooner or later.

-OOO-

Dodie followed the rest of the student body toward the cafeteria. She had been down this way she didn't know how many times, but never for supper. She hated to admit it, but she was beginning to think that she was never going to get home. And her little brother still hadn't been found. She dropped to her knees and let her tears flow.

A hand touched her shoulder. "We'll get out of here, Dodie," Ginger said from behind her. "And I'm sure that your brother is fine."

Dodie wiped her eyes dry. "I'm sure he is." She stood up and let Ginger guide her to cafeteria and to a table. Once sitting, Ginger said, "Let's wait here until the line dies down. You did have a long day after all."

"I guess I did," Dodie admitted. "But when do you suppose we will get out of here?"

"I don't know, Dodie. I just don't know."

-OOO-

Courtney had no lunch tray full of food in front of her. Her tray was instead empty. Miranda turned down the corners of her mouth. What was wrong with the girl? If she didn't want to eat, why did she bother to get a tray? But she was probably just on a hunger strike.

Courtney did get a tad emotional from time to time. Miranda had to remember that. "Get off your high horse, Courtney. The rest of us have to eat this crud, too."

"Well I don't, Miranda. I have my standards to maintain."

"Whatever." She got up and left. Courtney's recent behavior did nothing to disprove Miranda's theory that Courtney was the one behind all the poisonings. Those girls didn't know what they were talking about.

She found the table that Mipsy was sitting at. "This has gone far enough," Mipsy said when Miranda sat across from her.

"I agree with you completely," Miranda grumbled. "It's already being taken care of."

"That's good. I hate to spend the night with these losers."

"Just relax, Mipsy. You won't spend a single night in this place.

-OOO-

The evidence of Carl and Hoodsey's break-in had been covered up. And now Penny and Hoodsey were holed up in the janitor's closet, waiting for Blake to return. Hoodsey watched the door. "Why are you still here, Penny? I thought you wanted out."

"Oh, I have my reasons."

"Is it because of Courtney?"

"Among other things."

A high-pitched scream broke out.

Hoodsey and Penny exchanged glances and stood up. "What was that?" Hoodsey asked nervously.

"I don't know, but I aim to find out."


	9. The Second Assembly Begins & What the No

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

**Chapter 9: The Second Assembly Begins & What the Note Says**

Written: 25 Oct 2005-29 Oct 2005

Posted: 31 Oct 2005

They found the source of the scream. Dodie looked around herself anxiously around the corner she was in, white as an albino.

"You look like you seen a ghost, Dodie," Hoodsey said.

Dodie furrowed her brow. "This is no time for cracking jokes, _Robert Joseph_." Hoodsey wheeled as if he had been slapped. "I really did see a ghost."

Hoodsey pouted. "Did you have to call me Robert Joseph?"

Dodie's face softened. "I'm sorry, Hoodsie. I didn't mean to snap at you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"I guess," he said, shuffling his feet.

"Did you look a look at who it was?" Penny asked.

Dodie saw Hoodsie's new friend for the first one. "Who are you?"

"Did you look a look at who it was?" Penny insisted.

"Oh. Why, I think it was Maude Webley."

"Impossible."

"Why's that, Penny?" Hoodsey asked. "I heard that one time she actually possessed my body."

"Just one thing," Penny said. "Maude simply isn't dead."

A crowd had started to gather around them. "That's impossible, Penny," Ginger said. "I watched her die."

"Are you quite sure?"

Ginger looked down. "Yes. I watched collapse into the mushrooms. It was all so sad. Right, Courtney?"

Courtney nodded.

"All students assemble in the auditorium. All students assemble in the auditorium. That is all."

Miranda appeared. "Just what we need. An assembly that tells us nothing. And then another. And another. And another. And we ain't never going to get out of here."

"Ah, Miranda," Macie pointed out, "isn't that supposed to be 'we _aren't_ getting out of here.'"

"I'm talking about our ultimate fate, and you're giving grief about my grammar. Believe me, Lightfoot, there are more important things than the difference between ain't and aren't."

"Yeah," Hoodsey said. "Penny just said that Maude was still alive."

"Why are you listening to her for? She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"What do you mean?"

"Penny's the kind who takes the latest rumor a little seriously. Which just happens to be that a certain Maude Webley pulled the ultimate prank by faking her own death."

"You mean it's not true?" Dodie asked.

"Of course not, Bishop. I've seen her body."

"That's not good," Dodie murmured.

"How do you mean, Dodie?" Ginger asked.

"The ghost of Maude is haunting these very halls."

-OOO-

"Just what do you think you were doing? Sneaking onto school grounds like that. And on a school night no less." Lois was in no mood for her son's usual shenanigans.

Carl watched his feet. "I wanted to know what was happening to you and Ginger, mom. You were shut up in this middle school with no explanation. I didn't know anything, mom." Despite his best efforts not to, tears started running down his cheeks. "I didn't know what had to happened to you. Where were you?"

"Right here, kiddo." Lois kissed her son's head. "I'm sorry. I realize now that I should have left a note, but I was in a hurry. Can you ever forgive your old mother?"

"Well…"

Lois embraced him. "I know you would. Now I want to stay by my side every minute, except when I'm the bathroom, when Ginger will keep you, until we get out of here."

Carl looked downcast. "You don't trust me?"

"Not one bit," Lois smiled.

-OOO-

Miranda returned to the office. She had to see that note again. She had thought long and hard on the subject. And it had to be message for her. And her alone. Who else could it possibly be for?

The receptionist looked up when Miranda walked into the room. "What can I do for you?"

"The note. I believe I can read it."

-OOO-

Dodie sat uncomfortably beside Macie, wondering where Miranda had ended up. She had said that she would join them in the auditorium, Dodie still couldn't believe it, and join in a discussion about the clues that they supposedly had found. Dodie rued the increasingly apparent fact that she wasn't a very good detective. What ever possessed her to think she could ever discover who had attacked Ginger? That task was obviously out of her league.

"Dodie," Macie said to her left, "You mulling over some clue that we have found?"

"Hardly."

"Bishop, Bishop, Bishop," Miranda appeared suddenly, shaking her head. "This is no time for thinking about boys." She sat Dodie's right. "The culprit almost certainly a woman. One name Courtney Gripling."

"I was not thinking about boys, Miranda!" After calming down, she continued, "It's just that… What is that?" she asked when she saw the papers in Miranda's arms.

Miranda grinned. "Just a translation of the note we found in the office."

Dodie looked at the sheet with a lust-like glee. "Don't us in suspense, Miranda. What does it say?"

Miranda chuckled. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Dodie snapped. "Of course I'm sure."

Miranda showed her. "It's a hit-list and you're next." She began cackling.

Dodie read it. "Ack! It's a mistake. It has to be!"

"It also lists Ginger and Courtney and everybody else who got attacked." She leaned in closer. "Yours is the only one left."

Dodie scanned the list of couple of times. "Are you sure that this right? And why isn't Macie on here?"

"Actually I would prefer to stay off that list if it's all the same to you."

Dodie snapped her gaze toward her former best friend. "Actually it isn't all the same to me. You're the one behind this note. Aren't you?"

Macie gaped. "Pardon?"

"That's only possible reason for your name not to be on the list."

"There's lots of names not on the list, Dodie. Like, let's say, Laetita for example."

Dodie took another look at the list. "Laetita Bowers."

-OOO-

Laetita followed the rest of the school toward the auditorium. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her, even though everybody she could see was pointedly looking everywhere _but_ at her. She also began to wonder if she wasn't a little nuts.

She found Ginger in the crowd. She made her to her. "Hey, Ginger!" Ginger looked. "Do you have any idea what's this is all about?"

"I have some idea," Ginger said. "But I don't think it's anything useful."

"Well, you never know," Laetita shrugged. "It might the most vital clue of all." She lowered her voice. "So what it is?"

Ginger spoke two words.

"Ghost toxins."


	10. The Other Assembly

Thanks to Sheltered Shrubs for the proper spelling of Laetitia's name!

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 10: The Other Assembly

Written: 2 Nov 2005-22 Nov 2005

Posted: 23 Nov 2005

"You're right, Ginger."

"I am?"

"That isn't very useful. Where did you find such a strange phrase anyway?"

Ginger wasn't quite sure that she wanted to answer that. She wasn't sure that she believed herself. A green flyer taped to a locker had attracted her attention. She looked and found those two mysterious words: ghost toxins. It gave her shivers just thinking about it. "I'll tell you later." When her nerves were more settled.

"Okay, but I don't see what the big deal was. Not that there really are such as these ghost toxins."

"Yeah," Ginger agreed. But she wasn't so sure. "Let's go see what my mom is going to show us."

"Like we have much of a choice."

-OOO-

Hoodsey watched Penny draw the Little Seal Girl in her notebook. She was taking her time in penciling in the picture. And it showed. Penny's Little Seal Girl looked like it was about to jump off the page. And it was only half done.

"Wow, that's pretty good, Penny. How do get so good."

"Practice," Penny said off-hand.

"Oh." Her answer sure took the air out of his balloon. Grown-ups were telling him things like that. Eat your peas. Do your homework. Take a bath. It takes practice to be perfect. Surely there had to be a secret to success.

Carl had it, but he wouldn't tell him what it was. But Hoodsey was sure that he had his reasons…

Apparently, Penny noticed his crestfallen-ness, as she said, "Don't worry, little guy. Practice is the easiest thing in the world."

"It is?"

"Yeah. Just do something over and over again until you do it right."

"Oh."

Penny had continued to draw through their entire conversation, and now she drew one final line before turning the page. And she began drawing again.

"What other things have you drawn, Penny?" Hoodsey asked.

She grinned. "I don't draw _things_, Hoodsey. I draw people."

"Why not things? An alligator living in the sewers would be so cool."

"People are so more interesting than things, don't you think?"

"I suppose."

"Like these middle schoolers for example."

"But aren't you one of them, Penny?"

She sighed. "I may go to this Junior High, but that still doesn't make me a member."

-OOO-

After Dodie spotted Ginger searching through the seats for them, she stood and wave her over. "Over here, Ginger."

Ginger waved back. "Have you seen Laetitia, Dodie? She just was with me coming to this assembly."

Dodie shook her head. "I don't see how, though. We were already here when you got here."

"Oh. Right."

"Forget her, Ginger," Miranda said. "What has she ever done for you?"

"Invite us to a party at her funeral home home," Dodie pointed out.

"So?"

Ginger glared at her.

"Fine. But she'll be here shortly. So just sit and relax. There's no need to exert yourself in pointless and distracting search."

"I don't think so, Miranda. When I last seen her she muttering something about the cafeteria."

"That's where this all started," Macie gasped.

Ginger nodded. "And you remember Laetita saying she have a split personality?"

"Uh-huh."

"I think it just might be true."

"Fine," Miranda pronounced. "Go to the cafeteria if you want. But don't come crying to me if something goes wrong."

"So you're here staying here then?"

"Of course, Ginger. What do you take for me? Some kind of nit who sticks her nose into other people's business?"

"Yes," Dodie and Macie said.

"Whatever," Miranda said dismissively. "Just go."

Ginger nodded. And Dodie and Macie followed her up the stairs.

-OOO-

The time to begin the assembly came sooner than Lois would have wanted, but time wants for no woman. She adjusted her collar and stepped onto the stage. She went up to the podium and began speaking.

"I suppose you all are wondering what you're all doing here," Mrs. Foutley said.

"You can bet your sweet patooey we are," an anonymous girl's voice said from the audience. That was pretty rude of her, whoever it was. But Lois didn't let that faze her. She had important information to give these kids, and they were going to get it

"Yes, it would seem that what we have is a toxin that behaves like a germ. It-"

"Bull-" a voice from the thirtieth row said.

"Miranda, we don't such language here," Principal Milty said sternly. And he was now standing.

"Whatever. All I know is that doesn't seem very likely. Toxins are simply aren't germs."

"And germs aren't toxins?" Lois surmised.

"That's right, Mrs. Foutley. Toxins aren't any reason to have a quarantine."

"It is if you expect the affected population could spread it. And it does make caring for the sick much simpler."

"Who's sick? Everyone's was going to get sick is already sick and is in the nurse's lounge. And they are only the ones who had fish for lunch. Why can't the rest of us just leave?" Suddenly, without warning, she vomited onto the head of the boy in front of her. "Never mind," she said sheepishly.

-OOO-

I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but don't you worry, Chapter 11 is coming out Monday Oct 28, 2005!


	11. Penny's Warning

Here's next exciting chapter of _A Cafeteria Mystery_!

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 11: Penny's Warning 

Written: 22 Nov 2005-26 Nov 2005

Posted: 28 Nov 2005

The cafeteria was eerily quiet in the darkness of night. Ginger supposed that it should have gone without saying. But it didn't. Ginger had found that she had to find out for herself. But who thought about such things? The darkness itself didn't exactly comfort her, either. Who knew who or what was hiding in those shadows. She shivered. A possibly deranged Laetitia laying in wait in shadows for her was the last thing she wanted to happen.

"Well, where do we start?" Dodie asked.

"Anywhere I guess."

"Should we split up?" Macie said softly. "There's only three of us. And I don't know about you, but I'm not going in there alone."

"Relax, Macie. Nobody's asking you to go on your own." Ginger shot a glare at Dodie. "We're not splitting up."

"We could if we had Darren with us," Dodie replied.

"Or Miranda," Macie added.

Ginger sighed. "They're not. So we'll have to do our best without them."

"Right," Macie and Dodie agreed.

Ginger led her friends down one of the walls of the lunchroom. Along it were rows of tables folded-up and put away to get them out of the she supposed. Surely there was no one hiding in there.

They check the stacked tables anyway.

Nobody was hiding in there after all. Ginger relaxed ever so slightly. And they head straight for the lunch counter. The silence was now quite deafening and was buzzing in her head. Still no sign of Laetitia, or anyone else. Ginger didn't know if that were a good sign or not.

They ducked under the counter. "Okay," Macie said. "We're under the lunch counter. Now what?"

"Uhh…"

"You don't know?"

"No, I do." She paused. "But I don't think you're going to like it."

"Go on, Ginger," Dodie said. "We're all friends here."

"I think we should go into the kitchen."

Neither Macie or Dodie reacted at first. Then they did. "I'm not going in there, Ginger," Macie said. "It's death trap at night."

"She's right, Ginger," Dodie added. "Kitchens across the globe are just chuck full of instruments of death that a madman can use against us."

"And we didn't even bring a flashlight with us."

Ginger looked each in the eye in turn. "Come on, you guys. I think that Laetitia might be in trouble."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's just a feeling."

"Okay, Ginger," Dodie said, and Macie nodded. "We'll go with you, but we'll like it."

Ginger nodded. "Thank you, guys."

They stood up. They were going confront whoever, or whatever, that laid in wait in the kitchen. Flashlight or no flashlight.

And they found Laetitia laying there on the floor in fetal position, sucking her thumb. "What the?" Ginger breathed.

-OOO-

"That is why we are maintaining the quarantine," Mrs. Foutley was saying as Miranda was being token out of the auditorium. "I hate to do it, but it must be done."

_Poor Miranda_, Courtney thought. _Why did she have to have that fish for lunch?_ She gasped. Miranda hadn't had fish for lunch. She had the roast beef! She could be next. "Oh, god."

"What's wrong, Courtney," Mipsy whispered into her ear.

"Miranda didn't have the fish. She had the roast beef."

"Oh, god."

-OOO-

The nurse's office was the last place she had expected to be when she had went to school that morning. And she had thought only the students who had eaten the school's fish were getting sick. She could only assume that they the attacker was on to her. She also realized that it couldn't possibly be Courtney. Not once was she in a position to give her anything to make her sick. And equally sure that Courtney employ someone else to deliver the poison. Secrets were kept when you kept them to yourself. Miranda had taught her that. And Courtney had learned that particular lesson well. Miranda still didn't know what Mr. Gripling did for a living.

Ms. Foutley entered the room. "Are you feeling better, Miranda?"

Miranda nodded. She had thought she had roast beef for lunch, but now she wasn't so sure. _My god. What did they give me?_ She hated to be in doubt about what she had done. Especially when it was something simple like what she had for lunch that very day.

Miranda didn't like her mind messed with. And she had a pretty good idea why the perpetrator had done it too.

To make her doubt herself. Well, it wasn't going to work.

"How are you planning to catch the jerk-off responsible for all this, Ms. Foutley?"

"I don't know, Miranda. That isn't exactly my department."

"Oh. I see."

The door was knocked. "Come in," Ms. Foutley said.

It was Penny. She came into the room with a sick look on her face.

"What is it, Penny?"

"I think that you should look in the kitchen."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It's just a feeling that I have."

"That's it?" Miranda asked, incredulous.

Ms. Foutley sighed. "What sort of feeling, Penny?"

"That you should look in the kitchen."

"But of course," Miranda said. "What other kinds are there?" She paused. "Unless the mad prisoner had got to you too."

Ms. Foutley raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I became uncertain what I had for lunch, even though I know for a fact that I had the roast beef. Now what does that tell you, Ms. Foutley?"

"Now, Miranda, there's cases of sickness that aren't at all related to the Zowilof."

"I don't get sick," Miranda stated flatly.

"Never?"

"Never."

"Uh, Mrs. Foutley," Penny said. "What about the kitchen?"

"You just leave that to us, Penny."

-OOO-

Ginger knelt by Laetitia's side waiting for her to wake up. Dodie and Macie had left to go get help. But surely Laetitia would wake up before they got back…

"Look behind the stove."

Ginger looked down suddenly. Laetitia was still asleep. So she couldn't possibly be the one who had said it…

"Look behind the stove."

Ginger was very wrong. It was Laetitia who said it. But she was still asleep. Or was she? Ginger shook Laetitia gently. Laetitia didn't stir. Ginger shook harder. Still nothing. So Ginger shook Laetitia even harder. Still nothing. Either Laetitia was asleep or she was very good actor. Either way opened up a whole load of questions that Ginger wasn't yet ready to ask.

And she wasn't one to ignore a message repeated three times by a sleeping friend. "Which stove, Laetitia?"

Laetitia pointed. Ginger went to the stove that she pointed to. She frowned. The stove looked far too heavy to move by herself. "Maybe I should wait for the others to return."

"No. Look now."

Ginger blushed after she had caught herself swearing. "All right. I'll take another look."

She took that second look and spotted a panel in the wall that she hadn't noticed before. It looked to be held up by a single latch that could be turned. "That's odd." She reached for the latch, took a deep breath, and turned the latch. And she looked inside.

Behind the panel was a small empty hole.

There was something in it.

"Oh my god. There's a bomb in the middle school."


	12. The Bomb

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 12: The Bomb 

Written: 28 Nov 2005-3 Dec 2005

Posted: 3 Dec 2005

"So there really is a bomb?" Mrs. Foutley asked with wonder. "But what's it doing here? Who put it behind the wall?" She looked at Ginger. "How did you know to where look, Ginger?" Lois had come to the kitchen when Dodie and Macie had brought her the news.

"It was Laetitia, Mom. She pointed out where it was."

"But how could she do that. The poor girl's unconscious."

"I don't know, mom," Ginger conceded. "But she did. She really did." She did not like the look that her mother was giving her.

"You want to know what I think?"

Ginger jumped. She had not seen him enter the room. "Carl, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see what had everyone in a tizzy."

"Like when you snuck into the school in the first place?"

"Kids," Mrs. Foutley reminded them, "there is an unconscious girl here. Can't you continue this discussion another time?" They all glanced toward the sleeping form of Laetitia.

"That's just, mom. I don't think she's really unconscious."

Lois leaned onto the doorframe. "Carl, I'm sure that Ginger can tell if a person is conscious or not."

"I wouldn't so sure if I were you." He sat down and began to untie one of his shoes.

"Uh, what are you doing, Carl?" Ginger asked, wrinkling her nose.

"If you're about to do what I think you're going to do, Carl," Mrs. Foutley said, "I suggest that you don't."

He had his shoe off by then. "But, mom, what better way than to give her a strong smell. Like say," he pulled off his sock, "my foot."

Laetitia chose this moment, coincidence or not, to stir. She cracked open her eyes. "Where am I? What am I doing here? What's going on?"

"That, Laetita," Ginger helped her up, "is the question of the day."

Principal Milty passed in beside Mrs. Foutley. He seemed to be out of breath. "Where's the bomb?"

Ginger pointed. "Behind the stove there."

Milty went to the stove and examined the object in the secret panel. "I think we're going the police for this."

Laetitia's face turned a sickly shade of green. "There's a bomb in here?"

"I'm afraid so, Laetitia," Ginger replied.

"But what's a bomb doing in the Junior High?"

"That's what I intend to find out," the principal said.

-OOO-

Miranda's recovery had been incredible. She felt completely healthy thirty minutes after being led into the nurse's office. Now what would account for that happening?

"Are you feeling better, Miranda?" She didn't let her surprise show.

She looked up at her visitor. "What are you doing here, Lightfoot?"

"I came by to give you this chicken noodle soup." Lightfoot had a tray in her hands. On that tray was steaming hot bowl of soup.

"Where did you get that soup?"

"Oh, a friend of mine has some cans of these stashed somewhere." Lightfoot set the tray over Miranda's lap.

"Figures," Miranda mumbled while sipping from her spoon. Then she stopped. "You mean this soup is from a can?"

Lightfoot nodded.

Miranda made a sour face. "Just how old are these cans anyway?"

Lightfoot nodded.

"Oh, just great. I'm eating soups that's who-knows-old." She continued to eat the soup.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bishop didn't too pleased when she went into the nurse's office. "We have to get help for Laetitia."

"I already Mrs. Foutley, Dodie," Lightfoot replied. "She's probably already with her now. And did your forget that Miranda got sick too?"

"Miranda can take care of herself."

That was true. But still! "Would you two stop talking as if I weren't here?"

Bishop at least had the decency to blush. "Sorry, Miranda. I didn't see you there."

"What are you? Blind?"

Bishop lowered her head. "I guess so."

"You had better be, Bishop," Miranda growled. "You had better be."

-OOO-

"How did you know about the bomb, Penny?" Hoodsey tapped on the library table.

"Actually I didn't." Penny answered without looking up from her book. "I just knew that there was something bad in the kitchen."

"Yes, but how did you know?"

"I don't know…" Penny said helplessly.

"Are you one of those psychics that Carl keeps talking about?"

"Could be."

Hoodsey and Penny had gone to the library after the second assembly to look something up. What that something was, Penny wouldn't tell him. But whatever it was seemed to be very important. She had five open books in front of her. She seemed to take studying as seriously as Ginger did. And Hoodsey didn't think he could help in her research.

"Mind if I read a comic, Penny?"

"Why would I?"

"Uhmm… no reason."

"Go right ahead."

Hoodsey nodded before sliding his chair back. Ginger strode in before he could stand up. "Penny, just how did you know that there was a bomb in the kitchen?"

Penny looked up. "Oh, that again," she sighed.

-OOO-

The nurse had declared Miranda fit and well. And so Miranda left the nurse's office for the kitchen to see what was happening with that whole bomb situation. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. And the school being up while she was still in it was the last thing she wanted.

She didn't need to look behind her to that Ginger's two little friends were following her. She didn't say anything to them, however. She had decided to ignore them. They were of no concern of hers.

For now.

They reached the cafeteria when Darren appeared. "Darren, where were you?" Lightfoot asked. Her and Bishop rushed to meet him.

"And what are you doing here?" Miranda added.

"I was just hanging with some friends," Darren replied. "And I heard that there was a bomb in here."

Miranda snorted. "Aren't Ginger and company the only friends you have, Paterson?"

"No," he said. "They aren't."

"I'm also a friend of his." Penny came, followed by Ginger and that fat, little kid who also hanged around with Bishop.

"So you do have friends here, Small," Miranda sniped.

"Ladies." Darren motioned for peace, like that's every going to happen with bunch. "This isn't time or the place for this. We have a serious situation here."

They all looked at him.

"The bomb. Remember?"

"Yes, Paterson. I remember. But I doubt that there's anything we could do about it."

"Oh? Then why are you here?"

"Oh, touché, Darren. Touché."

"So you do have a plan to deal with this, Miranda?" Dodie asked.

Miranda templed her fingers. "Yes, indeed."


	13. The Villian is Unmasked

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 12: The Villain is Unmasked

Written: 5 Dec 2005-9 Dec 2005

Posted: 9 Dec 2005

Buzz Harris was the one who had been called in to disarm the bomb. Now that didn't seem right. Didn't the police have a special squad to deal with sort of thing? When Ginger brought this to Laetitia's attention, the girl could only shrug helplessly. "As much as I wish I were psychic, I'm not. So I couldn't tell you. Sorry."

"Yeah, but isn't there such as the Bomb Disposal Squad or something?"

"Who knows? Maybe Buzz is it around these here parts," Laetitia joked.

"That's not funny, Laetish." But Ginger found herself laughing anyway.

"Sure, it is."

The two girls were sitting on the cafeteria floor with their backs on the wall, watching as all the police, firefighters and EMT personal did what they did to defuse the situation, so to speak. While all the other kids were forced to stay away, Ginger and Laetitia to stay for some reason. Ginger wondered if it had something with the fact that they had discovered the bomb. They barely even asked them about that discovery.

And that had been at the time of discovery. Ginger shifted her weight. She hoped they knew what they were doing when they had brought in Buzz Harris. Who knows? He might actually know what he is doing.

Laetitia chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"I just thought of something."

Ginger nodded.

"Buzz might know how to disarm the bomb, because he was the one who had set in the first place. And this is all a desperate attempt at attention."

"That's not funny!" That still didn't stop her from laughing.

-OOO-

"I can't seem to make heads or tails out of this doohickey," Buzz told Ms. Lois Foutley and the principal.

"What do you mean?" Lois demanded. "Aren't you the number one electrical genius in Sheltered Shrubs?"

"I don't get it, Lois. Isn't this a job for the police's bomb people."

"They couldn't make 'heads or tails out of it' either."

"Naturally."

"Naturally?" Principal Milty said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I am the best, after all," Buzz boasted.

"Of course," Lois said dryly. "So do you have any suggestions on what we do next?"

Buzz shrugged. "Call someone from out-of-town."

"I could have thought of that one," Principal Milty objected.

"Well, you asked for my opinion."

"No. She did." He pointed toward Lois.

Lois sighed. "There goes the quarantine."

"What quarantine?" Buzz looked genuinely puzzled.

"Nobody told him about the quarantine!"

-OOO-

"Hoodsey, would you stop playing with your _Star Wars_ doll for a minute and do me a small favor?" Dodie asked.

Hoodsey put away his furry doll. "What is it, Dodie?"

"Go find Ginger."

"Okay, but only if you promise to find Carl."

Dodie nodded.

Hoodsey ran off.

"No running in the halls," Dodie shouted after him.

"Whatever." Miranda started to walk off. They met in front of the library hoping that Ginger and/or Courtney would meet them. But they didn't.

Dodie and the others followed Miranda. She wondered where Miranda was leading them. But it seemed that they were heading in the direction of the cafeteria. Miranda never told her anything. And from what Dodie could tell, she didn't tell Macie or Ginger anything either. But Dodie could tell that Miranda had a certain destination in mind. She just didn't know what it was.

So she had to ask.

"Where are we going, Miranda?" It was this that Macie beat her in asking.

"How should I know?" Miranda replied without looking back. "But if I didn't know any better, I would say that you're following me."

Penny smiled. "But we are following you, Miranda."

"Why is that, Small?"

"Because we don't have anything better to do?" Penny ventured.

Dodie rolled her eyes. She could have come up with a better answer than that.

Miranda laughed. "I'm sure you don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Penny put her hands to her hips.

Nobody answered her.

There was a reason for that. Miranda had suddenly stopped. "You don't have anything better to do." She looked over her shoulder. "Do you, Small?"

"Wha?" Dodie gaped. That was a leap, even for Miranda. "What are you talking about, Miranda?"

"Penny is the voice on the intercom."

-OOO-

"I have a bad feeling about this," Laetitia informed Ginger.

Ginger groaned. "About what exactly? We're trapped in the school, there's a bomb,and there's a mad man stalking us. Could you be a bit more specific?"

"Yes." Laetitia paused. "I'm going to be exposed as the mad man."

"Well, that is pretty specific," Ginger admitted. "But no one's going to expose you as the mad man, because you're not the mad man."

"Oh, how would you know?"

Ginger frowned. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Without a moment's transition, Laetitia's face seemed to become somebody else's. Ginger thought she recognized that expression, but she couldn't recall where. It unsettled her. "What is it, Laetitia?"

Laetitia's smile was crooked as she stood up and strode forward. Ginger was really creeped out when Laetitia made not a sound. Ginger stood up. "Where are you going?"

Laetitia looked up. "To stir up a little trouble, sweet cakes."

Ginger's heart froze. "It can't be."

"Oh, but it can. And it is."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

-OOO-

Courtney was put out when the nice police officer wouldn't let her into the cafeteria to see Ginger. She tried arguing with him, but it didn't seem to work. He only grew more insistent that she couldn't enter. So she decided to try another strategy. Pouting might work. "But I'm rich."

"Sorry, ma'am. Only doing my job."

"Do my father's millions mean nothing to you?"

"No, ma'am. We at the police like to treat everyone the same."

_Great. Just prefect. Now how am I going to see Ginger?_ Of course she could Miranda instead, but she saw her all the time. Ginger had no doubt something interesting to share. She was the daughter of the woman who had called for the quarantine of the school.

Courtney sensed that a group of students were approaching her. She thought it best to ignore them. "So you can't get in, huh?"

Courtney looked up. "Don't be silly, Miranda. I just haven't found the right pass word yet."

"Have you tried 'Open Sesame' yet," Miranda joked.

"This is serious, Miranda," Courtney replied. She lowered her head. "Yes."

"Stand back." She pushed Courtney back. "Let a pro handle it." She opened her mouth, apparently about to say something, when a yell came from the cafeteria. "Maude Webley is the one behind it."

Miranda snorted. "Ginger's obviously lost it. Maude couldn't possibly be the one behind all this terror stuff. She's dead."

"That didn't stop her from busting you."

Miranda frowned. "Who said that?"

"It's just my little brother, Miranda." Podie turned to the boy who was always wearing a hood, even inside. "You cared to explain yourself, Hoodsey."

"I'm not sure that Carl would want me to tell you."

Courtney walked up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Go ahead. We won't tell him if you don't."

"But…" the boy started, but Podie nodded. So he cleared his throat and began to explain.


	14. Theories and Explanations

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 14: Theories and Explanations

Written: 9 Dec 2005-13 Dec 2005

Posted: 13 Dec 2005

Ginger had Maude-possessed Laetitia tackled, who was struggling to get free, and wondered, _Now what?_ What would you do with a fellow teen in your arms. She did learn one more important lesson though. Always listen to your mother.

Mrs. Foutley came running toward her. She pulled Ginger off of Laetitia's body. "What do you think you are doing, tackling Laetitia like that?"

"But that's not Laetitia, mom." Ginger sat up, looking up at her mother. "It's Maude Webley. The woman who died in our dining room."

Mrs. Foutley looked uncertainly at Laetitia. "She doesn't look like Maude."

"That's all right, Mrs. Foutley," Laetitia said as she came to her feet. "I'm sure that Ginger here has to come to all sorts of wild conclusions because she just won't believe I'm the one who poisoned all those students."

"You are not the poisoner, Laetita," Mrs. Foutley explained. "How could you be?"

"I can think of a few ways."

"What are you talking about, Laetita?"

"I mean, it's not like anybody was watching me twenty-four/seven."

-OOO-

"It all started last Halloween," Hoodsey began. "And we needed help coming up with something that would scare Carl's mom."

"Figures," Dodie muttered.

"We tried holding a séance with some her old stuff. But that didn't work. Carl figured that she didn't want her stuff. She wanted new. So we decided to give her Blake."

Courtney's hand whipped out and grabbed Hoodsey's neck. "You tried to give my baby brother to a ghost?"

"I thought you didn't like him," Hoodsey choked.

"That's still no reason to let you give him away to a dead lady," Courtney said as Dodie tried to wrest her hands from Hoodsey's neck.

"Courtney, let go of my brother's neck this instant!"

Miranda cleared her throat and everything was silent. "Just chill, Courtney. Obviously, he's just making this all up."

"Really?" Dodie noticed that Courtney only loosened her grip on Hoodsey's neck slightly.

"Nuh-uh." He started to sound better now that pressure was lessened on his throat.

"Maybe it's lies that his friend tells him," Penny suggested. "I know my little brother likes to tell his share of whoppers."

"It's all true," Hoodsey insisted as his sister managed to unhook Courtney's finger from his neck. He didn't thank Dodie as she thought he should. Instead he turned to Penny. "You of all people should know."

Penny stared back, looking dumbstruck.

"What are you talking about, Hoodsey?" Dodie asked. "How would Penny know that what you're telling is true." Then she thought better of it. "If in fact it is true."

"I have idea," Hoodsey said. "Why don't we ask Blake? He's bound to remember."

"Blake's here?" Courtney asked. "But he's supposed to be at home."

"Me and Carl aren't."

"Alright," Courtney conceded. "But I'm sure that he'll deny the whole thing."

Miranda looked thoughtful.

"What is it, Miranda?" Courtney asked.

"Perhaps we should interview Blake. If there's evidence for ghosts, I sure would like to find it."

-OOO-

Blake had managed to get himself hidden among the masses of Junior High students. He was surprised how easy it was. They didn't seem to find an Elementary student all that odd. The work of Carl and Woodsey no doubt. They would make a spectacle out of themselves.

"What are you doing here, Gripling?"

Blake stiffened. He knew that voice!

He turned slowly around. "Mipsy! Funny meeting you here."

Mipsy didn't look too pleased to see him. "I'm sure that Courtney would be very interested in hearing just where you are."

Blake dropped to his knees. "Please don't tell my sister I'm here," he begged. "I would do anything for you."

"Like what?" Her voice held disbelief.

"I could wash your laundry for a week."

Mipsy grabbed his arm. "I already got somebody who does that for me." She pulled him to a standing position.

"I can clean your room."

"And let you into my personal sanctum? No way."

"Be your slave?"

"That won't work."

He tried one last gambit. "I can tell you secrets from Courtney's diary."

"She already tells me everything." Nonetheless, Mipsy stopped pulling on Blake's arm.

-OOO-

"Laetitia, I think it's about time you confronted these delusions of yours," Ginger said. "They can't be too healthy for you."

"As I tried to explain before. They're not delusions. Someone _is_ controlling my actions. And thereby terrifying the whole school through these poisonings."

Lois sighed. "I hate to admit it, girls. You both might be right."

"What do you mean, mom?" Ginger asked.

"Laetitia might be crazy, and she might be the one behind all the poisonings."

Ginger shook her head. "No, mom. I don't think that Laetitia has it in her. It seems more like something that Miranda would do."

Lois pursed her lips. "I may not be expert on this, but it seems to me that you don't know Miranda all that well."

"Just look at her," Ginger insisted, indicating Laetitia. "Does she look insane to you?"

"The insane can look quite normal."

"You should listen to your mother, Ginger."

"It was someone else who did the crime," Ginger insisted.

Lois sighed. "If you say so, Ginger."

Principal Milty approached them. "It seems that we have another problem, Lois."

-OOO-

Dodie was the one who first spotted Blake. He wasn't alone. He was being dragged by Mipsy. And they seemed to be arguing about something. "She already tells me everything," Mipsy was saying. She stopped dragging Blake.

"I found him," Dodie announced.

That sent the others come rushing toward her. Courtney was the first to arrive. "There you are."

"Courtney. I can explain." Blake looked up with widened eyes.

Mipsy looked smug. "It seems that I don't have tell your sister, Blake."

"Just what are you doing here, Blake?"

"They were keeping secrets from me. You would have done the same thing." He sounded hopeful.

"I suppose." Courtney narrowed her eyes. "But what do you know about the ghost of Maude Webley?"

"I don't know anything about any ghosts."

"He knows," Miranda said. "The ghost is real."

"But I didn't say anything of the…"

"Actually, you did," Miranda replied. "Just not with words."

"It was just a bad dream. It was just a bad dream."

"Sure, kid. Just keep telling yourself that."

"Now that we know that there's a ghost," Macie said, though Dodie wasn't so sure about that, "what are we going to do about it?"

Miranda's grin looked positively evil. "I know how to catch our mysterious ghost lady in the act."


	15. To Catch a Ghost

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 15: To Catch a Ghost

Written: 22 Jan 2006-30 Jan 2006

Posted: 31 Jan 2006

Carl found Hoodsey in the last place he would have thought to look for him. In front of the cafeteria, and not in it. And he wasn't alone. "What's going on, guys?"

"Lucky Junior High seems to be haunted," Dodie said. "That's what."

"There's a ghost around here?" Carl looked around.

Before rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Kewl."

"It's not 'kewl', Carl. It's serious. The ghost could get us at any time."

"This could only be the work of Maude Webley."

"How did you know it was Maude Webley?" Macie gasped.

Carl smiled enigmatically. "Who else could it be?"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Why are we wasting our time talking to these _children_? We have a ghost to hunt down!"

Carl gaped. "Maude isn't some kind of wild beast to go on your fireplace. She used to be a human being once."

"The operative word there is _used to be_. Now are you going to stand yapping or are you going to help us catch the ghost?"

Carl grabbed Hoodsey's arm and started off. "We're going to warn Maude off." Hoodsey waved good-bye to the others as they left.

"Hey! Wait up." Carl stopped and looked back. Penny was rushing to catch up with him. When she did, she asked, "Do you really know a ghost?'

Carl nodded.

"I've always wanted to meet a ghost."

-OOO-

Dodie strained to pull the rope down. There seemed to be a lot of tension on the line. The net that Miranda was setting up was certainly heavier than it looked. It didn't look like it was going to do any good, but Dodie wanted to believe that Miranda knew what she was doing.

"Hold it there!" Miranda said suddenly.

Just great. She was stuck holding a heavy rope in a very precarious position.

"You do know what you are doing, right, Miranda?" Darren asked.

Miranda clearly ignored him. "Now everyone tie off the ends."

"Onto what?" Mipsy asked, standing across from Dodie.

"Onto the bolts I had set into the floor," she semi-patiently explained.

"The what?"

She gestured toward the floor underneath the net, where metal studs set in the floor were now clearly visible. Now how had those got there? And wouldn't Miranda get into big trouble from defacing the cafeteria floor like that?

"What the heck are those doing there?" Of all those present, Mipsy appeared to be the only one brave enough to ask that question.

"I told you, Mipsy. I put them so that you can tie the ends of those ropes you're holding to the floor."

"When was this?"

"Could you ladies move it along," Darren said. "This net is heavier than it looks."

"You heard the man, ladies." Miranda clapped her hands. "Move it or lose it."

They moved as quickly as was convenient for them. When they were finished, Darren asked, "Is this really necessary. I mean what good is net in capturing a ghost? They're incorporable. A ghost would just go right through it, right?"

Miranda flashed him a look. "Look, Paterson, that ghost took a photo of my little, uh, prank, and so she must have used a camera, and so she must have some kind of physical body. End of discussion."

"But how do you know that this is the same ghost?" Dodie asked not-too-unreasonably, or so she thought.

Miranda didn't answer. "Where did Courtney and her brother go?"

"They're-" Dodie stopped short on her answer. She had just realized that she didn't remember seeing them for a while. "I don't know," she said finally. As if Miranda had asked _her_ the question.

"The last I saw them," Macie said, "Courtney was arguing with Blake about 'appropriate' behavior in situations like this."

"What's the quotation marks for, Lightfoot?"

Macie blushed a little and looked away. "Most of her suggestions didn't very practical to me."

Miranda sneered. "Just lovely," she said sarcastically. "Just how long ago was this?"

"About ten minutes ago. I think," she added hastily.

"I think that's about that the last time I saw them," Darren said.

"And what were doing?"

"Talking about something. I wasn't listening too closely, so I can't tell you what they were talking about."

Miranda seemed to consider, making her way to decision. Suddenly she turned to Macie. "Okay, Lightfoot, what were some of Courtney's suggestions?"

Macie listed them.

"Those aren't very good suggestions," Miranda finally said. She froze. "My god. What if Courtney had tried to put one of her suggestions into practice?"

Macie gasped. "The consequences would be terrible!"

"Alright, people. Spread out and begin the search."

-OOO-

Ginger put all her weight into pinning Laetitia onto the floor. "What do you think you are doing, Laetitia? I already stopped you once. What are you trying to accomplish?"

Laetitia didn't answer. She kept struggling to get free of Ginger's grasp.

Mrs. Foutley touched her shoulder. "Maybe you should just let her go, Ging. She might show us to the one who had started all this."

"Somehow, mom," Ginger said dryly, "I doubt that very much."

"Whatever for, Ginger? It doesn't look she has much choice."

Ginger sighed. Her mother was right. It didn't appear that Laetitia was capable of doing anything else at the moment. Unfortunately, Ginger had hesitated one moment too long. Laetitia struck her heel into her gut. Ginger let go and Laetitia went running back to the cafeteria.

"Here we go again." Ginger and his mother began to follow her.

-OOO-

While the others were searching for Courtney and her kid brother, Miranda had decided it was best if she were to lay in wait for the ghost and capture her. She waited behind an over-turned table. She had waited only a few minutes when she spotted movement by the net.

She grabbed her knife.

And cut the rope holding down the net.

The net-trap sprung into action, encasing the shadowy figure into a cocoon of rope.

Miranda cautiously poked her head out from behind the over-turned table. And smiled. "Just as I thought. Ghost can be caught. With the right netting," she added.

The smile disappeared when she saw who was in the net.

"Miranda Kilgallen!" Courtney didn't struggle to get out. Instead she just held onto the ropes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What I'm doing?" Miranda asked in astonishment. "What do you think you're doing? Sneaking off into the night."

"Never mind all that. Just get me down from here!"

"Fine." Miranda began to cut Courtney down.


	16. There has to be Something that Works

Made a few slight alterations 15 Sep 2006

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 16: There has to be Something that Works

Written: 3 May 2006-19 Jun 2006

Posted: 19 Jun 2006

Courtney stepped onto the floor after Miranda helped get her free from the net. "You should really be careful with these things, Miranda," Courtney was saying as she stepped onto the floor.

"I'm sorry, Courtney, but you trounced off like a love-sick puppy. How was I supposed to know where you were?"

"Well, if you had actually been paying attention-"

"Courtney," Miranda's teeth were practically cleansed, but not quite, "it's not my job to watch you twenty-four hours a day."

"What rock have you been leaving under all these years, Miranda? Of course it's your job to wait on me twenty-four hours a day!"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Come on, Courtney. Help me get this trap reset."

Courtney scanned the cafeteria. "Hey, where's Ginger?"

"Ginger, Ginger, Ginger." Miranda bobbed her head as she spoke. "Why is it always about Ginger?"

"It's not always about Ginger, Miranda." She paused. "Say, where's Blake?"

Miranda rolled her eyes a second a time. "Everyone went looking for you, Courtney."

"Well, then. In that case, we should look for them. To let them know that I'm alright."

"Of course," Miranda said dryly. For some reason, Courtney just _had_ to be the center of attention. "Perhaps we should start in the kitchen. They were making such a fuss over the bomb?"

"Bomb? What bomb?"

"The one that everyone is talking about, Courtney."

"Miranda, you know that I don't listen to the announcements."

"It wasn't just on the announcements, Courtney. People have been talking about for the past hour."

Courtney considered it. "Say, shouldn't we be asleep by now?"

"Probably," Miranda admitted.

It didn't take much searching before they found the others. Not that Miranda was impressed. She didn't believe that her and Courtney needed any help. Let alone _Ginger's_ help. Who was incidentally being led into the cafeteria by that Penny girl. "I'm telling you, Penny. The ghost is in the kitchen."

Dodie touched Ginger's arm. "Ginger, I don't think that a prankster like Maude would just hang around, waiting to get caught. Do you?"

"I suppose not." Ginger didn't sound entirely convinced. Miranda had known that Ginger was naïve. Did she nothing about ghosts? They never stuck in one place for long. "But if she isn't in the kitchen, then where is she?"

Macie shrugged. "You got me."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Just what is going in that kitchen, Ginger? Are you hiding something from us? Like having secret sympathies for the ghost, perhaps?"

"No way. That's Carl, not me."

Courtney _hhmp_ed. "Carl's sympathies for the woman are hardly secret, Ginger. As his big sister, you should really know that."

Ginger's face blossomed in red. "Oh right."

Courtney frowned thoughtfully. Miranda was amazed. Courtney had never looked thoughtful in her life! "Say, weren't you looking for my brother?"

"Weren't you for him too, Courtney?"

"Hey, I thought I saw him head into the cafeteria."

Well, that certainly explained what she was doing in the cafeteria. Her getting trapped in the net was a natural enough result in the dark. But unless Blake was actually going into the cafeteria, why would Courtney think he was? He clearly wasn't in the cafeteria. And Ginger and the other hadn't run into him on their way out of the kitchen. They would have dragged him out with them. Unless…

"Dodie, just what were doing in the kitchen?"

"Helping Ginger! What else?"

"Of course," Miranda said dryly.

-OOO-

"Blakely-boy! I would never think of looking for you here." Carl patted his nemesis on the back. He looked at him closer. "Are you all right? You look awfully pale."

Hoodsey had to agree. Blake did look kinda pale. And he had stuck himself in a fetal position below the stairs to the upstairs.

"Do you think he saw Mrs. Webley?" Penny had a certain gleam in her eye. Funny. She hadn't been so eager to meet Maude before.

"Of course it was," Blake snapped. "Who else would it be?"

"I'll have to admit," Carl said, "that I'm glad to see that you gotten better."

Blake smiled weakly. But before he could say anything, Penny suddenly grabbed his jacket and began shaking him quite vigorously. "Where is she? Tell me!"

"I'm right here, Sugarlips." Hoodsey froze. That voice was right behind him.

-OOO-

They all sat around the table. Dodie propped her head over the table with her arms, listening to Miranda's speech. "Okay, the net idea didn't exactly pan out. Anyone have any suggestions?"

"We could asking Danny Phantom," Dodie replied lamely.

"Bishop, this real life. Not some kind of stupid cartoon."

"Right." She bowed her head, seemingly crestfallen.

"Anyone else have any bright ideas?"

No one offered any.

"Well, maybe Penny has an idea."

Dodie looked up and spotted Penny coming in their direction, smirking. "You can be rest assured," she was saying. "Maude has just been warned." She sat down. "And I have some good news for you."

"That Maude didn't believe you?" Courtney said hopefully.

"Nope. She's going to pull the biggest prank ever." She paused. "At least the biggest prank _she_ had ever pulled."

"Did she ever tell what it was going to be?" Miranda leaned forward.

"Not really. But I'm sure it involves her taking control of somebody's body. It will be so cool."

"That's easy for you to say," Laetitia said. "You don't know what it's like to be a ghost's meat puppet."

"Oh, what makes you say that?"

Laetitia was takened back. "I just assumed…"

"Well, my people was controlled by Maude. And let me tell you. It was the kewlest thing ever!"

Laetitia muttered something that Dodie couldn't quite catch. But she was sure that it wasn't anything very flattering of Penny.

Penny stood up straight. "Guys, I had a thought. What if the fish in today's lunch wasn't actually fish?"

"Of course it isn't fish," Dodie said. "It was mystery meat day." Dodie raised her hands into the air. "Who knows what they've been serving us? It might actually be fish for I know!"

"Actually," Macie pointed out. "I believe that actually refers to the meatloaf."

"Meatloaf. Fish. What's the difference? People are dropping like flies all over the place!"

"Relax, Dodie," Macie pleaded. "Panicking isn't going to catch the ghost any faster."

Dodie took in a deep breath. "You're right, Macie. Panic isn't going to help us." She turned to Penny. "Do you know of anything that _would_ help us?"

"Yes, girls. I think I have a plan."

Miranda waved her hands. "Whoa there. I thought you said that this was going to be the coolest prank ever. And now you're going to help us stop her?"

"You can grab her after the prank," Penny swore.

"I'll be keeping you to that."

Penny nodded. Before sharing her plan.

A little later, Mrs. Foutley appeared. She stopped beside Ginger. "I'm here to let you girls know that Buzz has got the bomb defused."

"That's good to know." Macie let her hand go to her chest. "I wouldn't want the place to go up while I was still in it!"

"Any word on the ghost?"

"None yet, Mrs. Foutley," Dodie informed her.

"Well, let me know if you hear anything."

"Will do."

Mrs. Foutley started to leave, but it seemed that Miranda wasn't done with her yet. She narrowed her eyes. "And when exactly did you take this little trip to Africa of yours? Was it before or after your daughter was born?"

"Quite frankly, Miranda, I don't see how this has to do with anything. And I especially don't see how your constant nay saying is going to help any."

"Quite frankly, Ms. Foutley," Miranda said, mocking her listener, "I don't think you know what you're doing."

"So I've noticed…"

"For one thing," Miranda continued on as if she didn't hear, "this quarantine isn't going to work. I've just received word that this toxin has been found outside the school campus."


	17. Some Help

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 17: Some Help

Written: 13 Sep 2006-2 Oct 2006

Posted: 2 Oct 2006

The first thing that Macie did when she heard the news was faint. "Macie!" Dodie rushed over to her side to help her up. The cafeteria wasn't the best place in the world to faint. Dodie knew that from experience with the several incidents of Macie passing out there.

Mrs. Foutley raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how did you receive word about this?"

"That isn't important, Ms. Foutley. What is, is what are going to do about it? There are innocent lives at stake you know. Most importantly, mine."

"They might been leading you on, Miranda."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. They wouldn't do that to me. They wouldn't dare."

"You threaten them then?"

"Hardly."

Mrs. Foutley crossed her brow. "Who are these sources of yours? So that we can, you know, verify your statement. The authorities can't exactly follow every unsubstantiated report that comes our way. We have far too little manpower."

"Why don't you just us to investigate then?"

Dodie tensed up. _Uh Oh_. This could only mean trouble for them. Miranda's hatching a plan always meant trouble for Dodie and her friends. Especially Ginger. Miranda seemed to harbor a special hatred for her.

And since when was Miranda so helpful? She was up to something all right. Dodie frowned. Maybe just wanted to catch the mystery stalker….

"I don't think that's a good idea, Miranda," Mrs. Foutley said finally. She seemed to have given the matter a great deal of thought. "It would my fault if something happened to you girls. So I'm going to decline your offer. You're going to have to stay indoors."

Miranda's face darkened. "Try to stop me."

Mrs. Foutley simply smiled. "That won't my job. That will be Courtney's."

-OOO-

"But what is this supposed to do?" Hoodsey frowned as he watched Carl and Maude adjust the bolts on some kind of contraption. He wondered what it did. Probably something prank-related. But what?

Very soon they looked up and Carl wiped his brow. "Think that ought to do it?"

Maude nodded. "That ought to do it. Good work, Carl."

"Thank you." He even put in a bow.

"What's _it_?" Hoodsey asked. "What's this thing do?"

Maude grinned like she was hiding a big secret. Which she probably was. "It's a surprise."

Hoodsey could hardly imagine what it could possibly be. The machine that they had been working on was the darnedest thing he ever had seen. It looked like a giant compressor tank. He had briefly wondered if it was a huge gas bomb, but it couldn't be. Hoodsey saw neither Carl nor Maude put any chemicals into it. And he had been keeping a close eye on them the whole time. There was no way that they could have snuck in something under his nose.

Carl nodded. "Let's get this bad boy into position."

-OOO-

Joann Bishop wasn't pleased. She couldn't believe that it had taken her

This long to find out that the boys were missing. She had to admit, though. That Carl boy was good. How else could she have explained how he had gotten away from her without her knowledge? The realization galled her.

She stomped upstairs and into the master bedroom where her husband was still sleeping. Seeing this she huffed. And pulled the covers off of him. "Wake up, David Charles. The boys are missing."

Dave didn't quite wake quite fast enough to suit. Didn't he know that Robert Joseph might in danger! So she said, quite loudly, "Robert Joseph has put his eye out!"

That got up. He sat right up. "What? How could this happen? They're supposed to be asleep in his room."

Joann crossed her arms. "They're supposed to be, all right. But out there doing who knows out." She sighed. "So he might have actually put out his eye for I know."

Dave nodded as he understood that Joann only screamed it to wake him up. He dropped his feet over the side of the bed and slipped on his slippers. As he reached for his robe, he asked. "Does Lois know?"

"I don't know. I haven't been able to reach her. As this is progressing, I'm getting more and more convinced that it is her fault." She untied the knot of her robe. "Get dressed. We're getting to the bottom of this."

"Where are we going?"

"To where all the trouble began." She met him in the eyes. "The middle school."

After casting off her robe, she went over to the phone and began making a few phone calls.

-OOO-

This morning wasn't starting out the way that Dodie had excepted a mere twenty-four hours before. At least she got to watch the sun rise, albeit from a school cafeteria window. It was a beautiful way to start the morning.

Though a bittersweet one. The last one she had watched was with Nana, just before she died. The sunrise brought up pleasant memories of her grandmother, but there were tainted by the knowledge that she would have no more with her. She sighed as tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"Thinking of your Nana." Ginger appeared and sat on the windowsill by her.

Dodie nodded.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that she's in heaven right now. Watching over you and Hoodsey."

Dodie wiped away her tears. "Yes. You're right, Ginger. Nana is in heaven. Watching over us."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"Do you know better, Miranda?" Ginger asked politely.

"Well… no. But I wouldn't take such fairy tales at face value."

"I don't know, Miranda. Fairy tales have a habit of being true." Macie didn't think that Ginger needed to remind Miranda of ghosts.

"Fine. Be that way. But don't come crying to me when a priest bilks you out of your lifesavings." She marched off.

Students were beginning to congregate in the cafeteria, apparently hoping to get an early leg-up on breakfast, which was soon to be served. It was probably bacon and eggs, like it said on the monthly menu, but what with everything that had been happening lately Dodie wasn't so sure anymore. Especially with Mrs. Foutley coming their looking confused.

"Ginger," she said, "have you seen Polly anywhere?"

Ginger shook her head. "No, I haven't."

Dodie followed suit. "I think maybe Miranda knows. The last time I saw her, she was with Miranda."

They found her sitting by herself at one of the tables.

"They found more of the stuff, Miranda."

Miranda didn't look like she put too much weight on Mrs. Foutley's words. Ginger's mom hadn't before. "Just where did they, whoever '_they_' might be, find this toxin?"

"In the girls' bathroom of all places." She shook her head. "I just don't understand it. What kind of toxin is this?"

Macie lowered her voice. "What do you mean, Mrs. Foutley? Where exactly in the bathroom is it?"

Mrs. Foutley looked up toward the ceiling. "There. On the ceiling."

"How did it get up there?" Dodie wondered.

"That's what I intend to find out." She was looking pointedly toward Miranda.

Who then raised her hands. "Don't look at me! I had nothing to do with it."

"No. But you do seem to be the resident genius here." She sighed. "But I did send someone to investigate. And he confirmed your story."

Miranda's chest seemed a bit more puffed out when she heard. And began to smirk a little more than usual. "So do we leave?"

Mrs. Foutley shook her head. "I'm sorry to tell this, Miranda. But I just don't know."

"Figures. Never trust a nurse…"

-OOO-

"Psst…."

Dodie perked up when she heard it. She had been sitting by the stairs, thinking about the latest news. She still didn't know what to make of it. Any discretion would have been welcome, she supposed. She looked away to find the speaker, but didn't find anyone.

"Who's there?"

"Just little ole me." A figure wearing robe with a hood hiding the face appeared. Dodie knew what away that it was a ghost. It had sort of a ghostly aura around it.

"Who are you?"

"Just someone who wants to help." The figure paused. "There's something you need. It's buried in the backyard. It's underneath the old oak tree."

"You'll see when you unearth it."

Dodie tried to get the figure to tell her what was buried in the backyard, but it just walked away.

Macie came up to her. "What was that all about?"

Dodie faced her. "I don't know, Macie. But I think that we better get some shovels."

-OOO-

They began shoveling dirt out of the ground. Shovelfuls of dirt went flying everywhere as Dodie and Macie became more and more eager to find what had buried under the stone. If a honest-to-goodness spook from the other side said there was something buried there, then something was very well buried there. But she had failed to mention what it might have been….

Dodie wondered who the ghost might have been. She sighed. Worrying about that would have to wait. They had a buried treasure to dig up.

"What do you two think you are doing?" came Courtney's appraisal of their behavior. "Digging up the school property when we are on the cusp of being allowed to go home. Simply tacky."

Dodie shielded her eyes from the sun as she tried into Courtney's face. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Miranda is hard at work on Ginger's mom. That's why."

"And think that she would get Mrs. Foutley to call off the quarantine?"

"Oh yes. I have complete confidence in her." She frowned once more. "And besides, who gave you permission to dig out here anyway?"

"She did," Dodie said, pointing to the hooded figure. "But what are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you. That's what. Come along. Ginger's mom wants to talk to both of you."

"About what?"

"She didn't say." She eyed the woman. "Isn't that a ghost?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Momma always told me. Never trust ghosts."

"Can't it wait? We're unburying something important here."

"Oh really. What' is it?"

Pause. "I'm not sure really."

Courtney giggled. "How do you know that it's really down there?"

Dodie shrugged. "Something about this ghost inspires trust in him."

Their digging revealed something made out of leather. A little scrapping away of dirt revealed it to a book. A really old book. "I would say that this is important. Wouldn't you, Macie?"

"Most undoubtedly."


	18. Dodie's Book

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 18: Dodie's Book 

Posted: 21 Feb 2007

When Dodie and Macie brought the book to Mrs. Foutley's attention, who was sitting behind the desk in the nurse's office, she seemed more than a little skeptical. "Just where did you get this from?" She looked at the book with an expression somewhere between disdain and disgust. Dodie got the impression that it was the book itself that Mrs. Foutley was objecting to, not the sorry shape that it was in. It was covered in dirt and the leather cover was starting to peel, but Mrs. Foutley didn't seem notice that. She seemed more concerned about the book itself, not its appearances. Dodie felt a chill at the back of her neck. What had Macie and her gotten herself into?

"We dug it out of the lawn, Mrs. Foutley," Macie informed her.

"Now what were doing digging holes on school grounds? I would have expected better from you two.

"A ghost told us to dig it up, Mrs. Foutley," Dodie said.

Mrs. Foutley sighed. "And did this ghost tell you what you were uncovering?"

Both Dodie and Macie shook their head no.

"I see." Dodie could see that the last thing that Mrs. Foutley wanted to get into was the leather-bound book, but, since the ghost went through all that trouble to point it out to Macie and her, she knew it must have been important. So what was it? And what was it doing buried under the school? "But don't you two girls know what this book is?"

"No, Mrs. Foutley," Dodie said while Macie said nothing. "What is it?"

But Mrs. Foutley refused to say anything more about the book. No matter hard the girls pressed her for details. Which of course got Dodie _really_ curious about that book. She just couldn't help herself. Vital information was being withheld from her! And not even the old puppy-eyes trick seemed to work.

Then Mrs. Foutley raised her brow. "Don't you two girls need to sleep or something?"

Dodie started to say no, but she fell asleep before she could.

-OOO-

When Miranda was returning to nurse's office from the supply closet, she was began to have second thoughts about the whole thing. That there was no ghost. That the Bowers girl did it all herself. And that this whole querrtine was just a big joke. Though most of those thoughts were coming from that Bowers girl herself. "And it's all my fault."

"Yeah. Like you're the cause of all _this_."

"You don't have to be mean about it, you know."

"I'm usually am."

"You know that you? Why are you so abrasive with everyone?"

Miranda just grinned without saying anything.

Laetitia sighed. "Yeah. You're right. No one wants to talk to a psycho like me."

Miranda laughed. "That's right, Bowers. No one wants to talk to a psycho like _you_." She poked Laetitia in the chest. "So why don't you do everyone a favor and _go away_."

Laetitia looked like she was about the bawl her brains out. How disgusting. One suggestion to take a hike and she's ready to weep. With chin upraised, Miranda hurried forward and left her behind. Fortunately the nurse's office wasn't too far. Only a few paces.

When she went in, she found Ms. Foutley behind the desk reading a report and that Bishop girl asleep on one of the cots. "I have that construction paper you asked for," Miranda said without preamble.

Ms. Foutley looked up. "Thank you, Miranda. I do appreciate this."

"So where do you want this?"

Ms. Foutley pointed. "Just put there on the counter."

As she moved to comply, she noticed that something was amiss. She had visited the nurse's office a lot lately, so she would know. All the cabinets seemed to be empty. "Ms. Foutley?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"What happened to the supplies in the cabinets?"

"Oh. People were trying to steal them, so I locked them up somewhere safe."

"Ah." So things have gotten _that_ bad, huh? Miranda nodded and started to leave.

But Ms. Foutley still had one more thing for to do. "Miranda, could you do one last favor for me?"

Miranda sighed. "What is it?"

"Could you take this," Ms. Foutley said, holding up an envelope, "to Ginger? She's in the gymnasium. Where you kids should be right now. What with the crazy stuff that has been going on lately." Miranda rolled her eyes. "It's very important that she gets this."

"Very well, Ms. Foutley." As she took the envelope, she wondered. What could possiblely be in that envelope that could be so important?

-OOO-

Dodie sat all alone in the empty cafeteria. Where was everyone? They were just there a second ago.

"So you're all alone, huh?" Dodie jumped when she heard that voice. "Let me keep you company."

Dodie nodded. The ghost sat down right next to her. She wrapped her arm around Dodie's shoulders and embraced her.

With that, Dodie finally recognized who the ghost was. "Nana? What are you doing here?"

"Keeping an eye on you, sweetie. And, boy, from what I had just seen, you're going to need it."

"What are you talking about, Nana?" Dodie lifted her chin. "I can take care of myself."

"If you say so, sweetie…."

"And I have Ginger and Macie to help me."

"And so where are they, sweetie?"

Dodie looked around uncertainly. "I d-don't know."

Nana gently shook her head. "I'm surprised at you, Dodie. It is _your_ dream after all. If you wanted your friends, then they would appear."

"What?"

Before she could get an answer, she found herself awake. "Oh." It _was_ just a dream after all. Unless it was a vision… Then she remembered where she was.

She sat up and turned to Mrs. Foutley. "Mrs. Foutley, where is that book that I found?"

Mrs. Foutley scowled. "Why do you ask?"

"My Nana told to find it."

"Oh. Oh, I see." Dodie wasn't too sure that Ginger's mom entirely believed her. _Dodie_ wasn't too sure that she believed herself. Then, after a moment of dreadful waiting, Mrs. Foutley finally nodded. "All right, Dodie. Did she say what she wanted the book for?"

"She didn't."

"Did she tell you what to do with it?"

Dodie shook her head.

"Too bad. If we knew what she wanted…"

_We might able to help_, Dodie finished in her mind. "Next time I'll see her, I'll ask her."

Mrs. Foutley nodded before pulling open the center drawer of the desk. "I think you had better take this. It seems that you're the one _this_ book is destined for." She didn't look too happy when she handed the leather-bound tome to Dodie. "I hope that you are ready for it."

Dodie swallowed when she took the book. What had she got herself into? "Ah, Mrs. Foutley?"

"Yes, Dodie?"

"Where did Macie go?"


	19. Getting Where You’re Going

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

**Chapter 19: Getting Where You're Going**

Posted: 25 Jan 2008

Macie wasn't the least bit comforted by the arm that Miranda had wrapped around her shoulders as they strolled down the hallway. "What did you want to show me, Miranda?"

"You'll see in a minute."

"I'm not so sure about this, Miranda."

"Believe me. This wasn't _my_ idea, Lightfoot."

They had paused just before going into the girls' locker room, and Macie noticed a distinct perfume that she didn't recognize wafting out of the room. She wondered whose idea it _was_ but didn't dare ask. But surely the perfume was a clue. If she only knew who the perfume belonged to, then she would be able to tell who was in the locker room. "There's one thing you need to know before going in, Lightfoot," Miranda was saying.

Macie nodded. "Yes, what is it, Miranda?"

"This isn't going to be pretty. There might be some things said in here that you would wish that you never would have to hear and see some things that you would wish that you never would have to hear. Now are you with me? Or not?"

Macie didn't want to make this choice, but it looked like she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. So she reluctantly agreed to come along with Miranda into the locker room.

"Very well, Lightfoot. But if you are going in with me, you had better do what I tell you to do when I tell you. Got that?"

Macie nodded.

"Good then we ought to get well fine then." Miranda pushed the door open. "Welcome to a brand new world of discovery, my young protégé."

Macie felt as if she was being led into the jaws of a hungry crocodile.

-OOO-

Ginger couldn't make tails or heads out of the message that her mother had given her though Miranda. It looked like something from a Jack Ryan novel. What was it called? Well whatever it was it wasn't important.

She turned her attention back to the note.

It read:

_Ginger, meet me after class today._

It wasn't even written in her mother's handwriting. Actually she didn't know whose handwriting it was, but she did know that she had never seen it before in her life. And she had seen her mother's handwriting a whole bunch of times. So whose handwriting was it?

She sighed. It wasn't going to be easy, but then again, nobody had said that it was going to be.

She went to class with the other students. She was sure that something would happen to make everything clear.

-OOO-

Dodie still didn't know where Macie had gone off to. Since they didn't share their first class, she had to wait to see her. But that didn't mean they couldn't see each other in the hallway, right? Normally Dodie wouldn't be so paranoid about it. But with what had been happening lately….

So Dodie entered Math totally worried about her best friend. Again. What could have happened to her?

But she did share Math with Ginger, and they did sit together during class. After Dodie sat down next to her best friend, "Say, Ginger, have you seen Macie?"

Ginger shook her head. "Not since the time in the cafeteria."

"Huh." _Oh great_, Dodie thought. _Now what am I supposed to do?_

She had all class long to think about that. Although she hardly wanted to. It was just that her best friend was missing and she didn't know what she could do about it. She was so worried, in fact, that she even had trouble paying attention during class. And it was time to take a test too!

She was very miserable when she left the classroom. She was so sure that she had failed the test. But that wasn't why she was so miserable.

She was sick with worry for Macie.

And Ginger was no help.

"Sorry, Dodie," she had said when they had left class together, "there's something I have to do. Hope you find Macie." Though her heart hadn't seemed to be in it. It was almost as if Ginger didn't believe that Macie was missing.

Dodie sighed. Maybe Ginger was right. Maybe nothing had happened to Macie, and the stress of the situation was just getting to her. Yeah, that's right. That was what was happening.

She was met Penny at her locker. "Oh hi, Penny. Ginger's mom is looking for you, you know."

"Whatever on earth for?"

"I don't know, Penny. That's something that you will have to ask her yourself when you find her."

Penny lifted her chin in the air. "Who said that _I_ wanted to see _her_?"

"Pardon?"

Penny lowered her voice. "I'm avoiding her just now."

Dodie spoke at the same soft level. "May I ask why?"

"You can ask, Dodie, but it's something that I don't want to talk about. Okay?"

Dodie nodded. "Okay, Penny. But have you seen Macie anywhere?"

"No." Penny shook her head. "She didn't show up at class."

"Don't you two share History together?" Dodie asked, hoping that the answer was no.

It wasn't.

Penny nodded. Which usually meant yes.

"Shoot."

Dodie ran off down the hall without explanation, or listening to Penny's reply. She had to find Macie. And quickly too.

Class was only four minutes away. Not much time to find a missing friend in a school the size of Lucky Junior High. But Dodie gave it her best nevertheless.

This was her best friend we're talking about here.

She started out for Macie's next class, poking her head into every classroom on the way to check for Macie in them. She didn't find her in any of them. She might have missed her in her cursory examination of the classrooms. But she doubted it.

She even looked in both bathrooms, surprising the sandy-haired boy standing at the urinal.

Dodie groaned in frustration. Where could that girl be? Dodie had looked for everywhere and couldn't find her in any of those places.

She nearly jumped out of her shoes when felt a tap on her shoulder. But she felt much better when she saw who it was. "Macie, where have you been? I heard that you didn't make it to class? Is there anything wrong?"

Macie shook her head. "No. Nothing's wrong." But the hesitancy in her voice said otherwise.

"Aha! I knew it." Dodie held onto Macie's shoulders. "There is something wrong, Macie. I know you well enough to tell that much."

"It's nothing. Really." She blushed and looked away.

"Out with it, Lightfoot. What is it?"

Macie shook her head. "No. I promised I wouldn't say."

"Promised who, Macie? Who?"

Macie fiddled her thumbs before answering. "Miranda."

"Miranda? But I thought she supposed to be helping us find who had attacked Ginger."

"She is."

"Then why aren't supposed to tell me what you know?"

"Be-because it has nothing to do with the attacks."

Dodie's face darkened. "Oh, I think you should let me be the judge of that, Macie."

-OOO-

Courtney simply hated where she had found herself to be. But only in a metaphorical sense of course. She simply adored where she was physically located. Here in the girls' room she was being adored by a bunch of her adoring fans. As the Queen of Lucky Junior High, it was exactly the sort of thing that she was used to. What more could you ask for?

It was the situation that she had found herself that was bugging her. The reason that she wasn't leaving the restroom in the first place. She was just too afraid that her attacker was laying in wait just outside the door for her. And there was good reason to suspect that. And she couldn't find Miranda anyway. Where could she be?

The last thing that Courtney wanted to do was go out there alone. But she could hardly tell her many admirers that. She could hardly think that it was possible, but apparently it was very lonely at the top of the social ladder.

She wanted to shutter at that thought but didn't dare. It would have made her look weak and foolish. Something that she just couldn't afford to appear just then. She was, after all, the Queen of Lucky Junior High.

She had certain obligations she had to fulfill.

Dodie barged into the bathroom with Macie in tow. Oh, now what? "What do you think you are doing?" Courtney chided. "I was talking with my friends here."

"I'm sorry, Courtney," Dodie said as she nudged Macie forward. "It's just that Macie has something that she really needs to tell you."

"Oh really?" Courtney replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She truly wanted to hear what they had to say, but she was more than a little skeptical about whether it would be true. She doubted it. "What is it?"

When Macie still didn't budge, Dodie had to speak for her. "Courtney, I think Miranda's the bomb maker!"


	20. The Bomber Found

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

**Chapter 20: The Bomber Found**

Posted: 30 Jun 2010

"Don't be stupid. Miranda isn't the bomber. Why would you think such a thing?" Courtney shook her head. Some people just didn't listen. "There's no way that she could possibly be the bomber. Where could she have possibly have found the time?"

"Well, Courtney," Dodie pointed out, "does she always spend every single moment of her time with you?"

"Well no, but…"

Dodie nodded. "Exactly."

"That's still no reason to suspect someone! Why would even she do such a thing?"

"Uh…."

"Exactly." Courtney nodded toward Macie. "Now isn't it time to hear what Macie has to say?"

Macie remained silent.

"This isn't helping, Macie. There is a reason why I'm in the restroom you know."

"Huh. I hadn't noticed," Dodie said. "Aren't you always in the girls' room?"

"Hardly!"

"Oh."

"And besides Miranda doesn't _know_ how to make bombs."

"Oh? How would you know? Huh? Huh?"

Courtney gave a look. It seemed to say _Oh please! It's insulting that you don't think that I don't know my own best friend._ A lot to say in a glance, but this was Courtney. What couldn't she put in a glance?

"Well…. You don't spend every minute with her. She could be keeping secrets form you."

"I would know if she's keeping secrets from me, _Podie_."

"Calling me names isn't helping, _Gripling_!"

"Well, sticks and stones-"

Macie interrupted. "Why _are_ you in here, Courtney?"

Courtney looked through the door. She could almost see her stalker waiting outside. Waiting for her to come outside. To fall into her clutches. "There's someone who's after me."

"And you think that staying in one place, all by yourself, is going to save you from your attacker?"

"Tell us, Macie." Dodie was touching Macie's shoulders. "What did Macie tell you?"

"I promised I wouldn't say."

Courtney grabbed both of their wrists. "This is getting us nowhere. Let's just nip this in the bud and confront Miranda directly. Let's just see what _she_ has to say about it. With your company, the stalker is sure not to bother me."

"If you're sure, Courtney," Macie said uncertainly.

"I'm perfectly sure."

She dragged them out of the restroom. Though they didn't seem to be protesting too much.

Which was good.

She was going to need their help with what's coming up next.

The catching of the _real_ culprit.

-OOO-

Ginger was helping her mother with some paperwork in the office.

Or at least that was what she kept telling herself what she was doing. In truth she didn't know what she was doing. After she had came to see her mom, she had immediately gotten her to work on finding all the Susan's in the phone book and copying their addresses and phone numbers. Strange.

And now she was checking if all the students' records were, in fact, really in order.

She had forgotten to show her mother that note. In fact she had forgotten about it entirely. Strange. Ginger wasn't someone to forget something like that. She really wasn't. She was the responsible kind. Unlike… some people she could name but wasn't about to just then.

She turned her attention back to the note.

Still nothing was clear. Did her mother dictate that note through Miranda? She had never seen her mother dictate anything before, but that still mean it didn't happen. She could think of all sorts that her mother but she never witnessed. Probably things she wouldn't want to think about though.

Her mother returned carrying a thick stack of papers. She had to hold in place with her chin. Which was probably the reason why the door had been left open. "Did you get anything done, kiddo?"

"Not yet, mom. Who would have thought that a school could have so much paperwork?"

Mrs. Foutley smiled in sympathy. "Just do the best that you can, kiddo." She set the stack on the desk that Ginger was working at. "I hope that I'm not working you too hard, Ging."

"Not at all, Mom. I'm sure that I can handle it."

"That's good. Let me if you have a problem."

"Okay, Mom. I will."

As her mother turned to return to the principal's office to continue on with her work, Ginger felt something in her pocket. She checked it and found the note that she kept forgetting about. "Mom, did give Miranda a note to give to me?"

"No. Why?" Ginger showed her the note. "Oh." She grabbed Ginger's arm and hurried out of the room. "It's Miranda. She's giving _me_ the message."

"What?"

"While it's pretty close to my handwriting, it's still Miranda's."

-OOO-

"The boys' locker room? _This_ is the place where we're going to wait for Miranda at?" Dodie was a little surprised. Who would have known that Miranda had a thing for boys' locker rooms?

Macie nodded. "Yes."

"The boys' locker room?"

"Yes."

"The place where boys change their clothes after gym and they're-"

"That's enough of that," Courtney said, interrupting. "What boys do or don't do is not the issue here. Miranda has something important to tell, and I, for one, want to hear it."

"Are you sure that it _is_ important, Courtney?" Dodie wondered.

"Of course it is. Why else would there be all this cloak and dagger stuff? For her health?"

"Most certainly not" came the snippy response.

Dodie huffed. "Okay, Miranda. You got us here. What was so important that you had to stick us in the boys' locker room?"

A mysterious smile appeared on Miranda's face. "I think I know who had attacked Courtney."

"Don't leave us in suspense, Miranda," Macie said. "Tell us already."

"Yes, Miranda. Tell us."

"It was Laetitia Bowers."

Dodie disagreed. Vehemently.

'Now now, Dodie. I'm sure that there's no call for such language from a lady."

"You're one to talk."

"What's that supposed to mean, hmmm?"

"I heard you talk on your phone, Courtney. Some of those words would make a salty sea pirate cry."

"I have no idea what your talking about, Dodie." She looked like she truly didn't. "We're talking about something serious here. Can't we just move on, hmm?"

"But you-"

"Zip it."

"But-"

Courtney was about to continue, but Miranda gave them a look. It wasn't much, but it was all that it took to get both girls to settle back down. "Hello. I'm talking here."

"Sorry."

"As I saying," she continued, looking pointedly at both Dodie and Courtney, "Laetitia Bowers was the one who had planted the bomb."

"And do you have any proof of this?" Dodie demanded.

Miranda's smile was even creepier than usually. "Of course."


End file.
